This list includes 12 Suffixes that start with K, from “-kary-” to “-kinin”. They are short bound morphemes, often borrowed from Greek or Latin roots. You will see them in scientific terms and in word formation for nouns and adjectives.
Suffixes that start with K are endings attached to roots to create new words or meanings. Many derive from Greek or Latin; “-kary-” appears in biology terms like “karyotype” and “eukaryote”.
Below you’ll find the table with Origin, Meaning and Example words.
Origin: Shows the language or period where the suffix comes from, helping you judge its historical and usage context.
Meaning: Gives a short gloss of the suffix’s core sense, so you can quickly understand its contribution to a word.
Example words: Lists two to four real words that show the suffix in use, letting you test fit and meaning.
Suffixes that start with K
| Suffix | Origin (language/period) | Meaning | Example words | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| –kin | Middle English; Middle Dutch | diminutive; “little” or affectionate | napkin, manikin, lambkin, bodkin | A diminutive suffix from ME/Low German. Many uses are fossilized in nouns and names; still appears in pet names, dialects and surnames. Variant -kins is common in names and informal speech. |
| –kine | 20th-century coinage (from Greek kinesis) | used in names of signaling proteins | cytokine, chemokine, neurokine | Modern biochemical combining form coined for cell-signaling proteins. Productive in immunology and cell biology; specialized scientific vocabulary. |
| –kinin | New Latin/Greek (early 20th c.) | peptide family (physiological peptides) | bradykinin, kallidin | Name-forming suffix for a class of physiological peptides found in medical literature. Technical and narrowly used. (rare) |
| –kary- | Greek (karyon ‘nut, nucleus’) combining form | nucleus (cell nucleus) | karyotype, karyoplasm, karyogamy | Combining form in cell biology and genetics for nucleus-related concepts. Highly technical but productive in scientific coinages. |
| –karyo- | Greek combining form (karyon) | ‘nucleus’ (used before vowels) | eukaryote, prokaryote, endokaryotic | Scientific combining form used widely in biology and taxonomy; appears before vowels and in formal technical terms. |
| –karyote | Modern biological coinage (from Greek) | organism with a nucleus | eukaryote, prokaryote | Noun-forming biological element distinguishing nucleus-bearing organisms. Very common in life-science contexts, limited use outside science. |
| –karyotic | Modern biological coinage (from Greek) | having or relating to a nucleus | eukaryotic, prokaryotic, dikaryotic | Adjective-forming suffix used in biology to describe nucleus-bearing cells; common in textbooks and research, rare in everyday speech. |
| –karyosis | New Latin/Greek | condition of the cell nucleus | hyperkaryosis, anisokaryosis | Medical/histology term for nuclear conditions seen in tissues. Technical and infrequently used outside pathology. (rare) |
| –kinesis | Greek (kinesis ‘movement’) | movement, motion | photokinesis, chemokinesis, thermokinesis | Combining form for motion-related phenomena in biology, physiology and physics. Used to coin specialized technical terms. |
| –kinesia | Modern medical formation (from Greek kinesis) | abnormal movement; movement condition | dyskinesia, bradykinesia, akinesia | Clinical suffix in neurology to name movement disorders; common in medical writing and diagnostics. |
| –kinetic | Modern coinage from Greek | relating to motion or forces causing motion | psychokinetic, photokinetic, thermokinetic | Adjective-forming suffix meaning ‘relating to movement’; used in science, engineering and some popular contexts (e.g., psychokinetic). |
| –kinase | Modern biochemical term (from Greek + -ase) | enzyme that transfers phosphate groups | tyrosine kinase, protein kinase, creatine kinase | Widely used enzyme-naming suffix in biochemistry and molecular biology. Highly productive within the life sciences; specialist vocabulary. |