This list includes 21 Suffixes that start with M, ranging from “-made” to “-most”. These endings include common productive forms and older dialectal morphemes, useful for vocabulary building and editing.
Suffixes that start with M are bound word endings that attach to roots to change meaning or word class. Notably, “-most” once formed superlative compounds like “foremost” in Old English.
Below you’ll find the table with origin, meaning and example words.
Origin: Shows the language or historical period the suffix comes from, helping you understand its background and usage.
Meaning: Gives a short definition or semantic gist so you quickly grasp how the suffix changes a word’s meaning.
Example words: Lists two to four common or illustrative words so you see the suffix in real usage and form.
Suffixes that start with M
| Suffix | Origin | Meaning | Example words | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| –ment | Latin (Late Latin/Old French) (productive) | action, result, state, or instrument | agreement, movement, development | Extremely common noun-forming suffix from verbs; forms results, states, and instruments in everyday English. |
| –most | Old English (productive in compounds) | superlative in compound positions | innermost, uppermost, southernmost | Attaches to spatial or ordinal bases to make compound superlatives; still productive in compounds like northernmost. |
| –meter | Greek via Latin/French (productive) | measuring device or measurer | speedometer, thermometer, odometer | Names instruments or devices for measuring; British spelling variant -metre used for units and instruments. |
| –metry | Greek via Latin/French (productive, technical) | the measurement or study of something | geometry, optometry, spectrometry | Scholarly/technical suffix forming fields of measurement or methods of measurement. |
| –mania | Greek (ancient) (productive) | excessive enthusiasm or pathological obsession | bibliomania, kleptomania, egomania | Forms nouns for obsessions or craze-like enthusiasms; used medically and colloquially. |
| –maniac | Greek/Latin via French (productive, colloquial) | person with an extreme enthusiasm or obsession | egomaniac, pyromaniac, Beatlemaniac | Agent noun for someone obsessed or fanatical; can be pejorative or playful. |
| –manic | Greek via Latin (rare) | relating to mania or obsession | monomanic, pyromanic | Adjectival form meaning “pertaining to a mania”; historically attested but relatively rare today. |
| –man | Old English (productive historically; contested now) | person associated with role, nationality, or agent | fireman, Englishman, mailman | Longstanding agent and national-denoting suffix; usage is declining in favor of gender-neutral alternatives. |
| –monger | Old English/Old Norse (rare/productive in compounds) | dealer, seller, promoter (often pejorative) | fishmonger, warmonger, scaremonger | Forms agent nouns, often with negative or sensational sense; productive for coinages like scaremonger. |
| –mate | Old English/Proto-Germanic (productive in compounds) | companion, partner, fellow member | classmate, shipmate, teammate | Common compound-forming element meaning companion or partner; widely used in social and institutional contexts. |
| –morph | Greek (productive combining form) | shape, form, or structural type | isomorph, polymorph, biomorph | Combining form used in scientific and morphological terms to indicate form or structural type. |
| –morphic | Greek (productive) | having a specified form or shape | polymorphic, isomorphic, anthropomorphic | Adjectival form of -morph, common in scientific and general usage describing forms or patterns. |
| –morphism | Greek (technical, productive) | form, structure, or a kind of mapping | isomorphism, polymorphism, monomorphism | Noun-forming technical suffix used in mathematics, biology, and computer science. |
| –morphous | Greek via Latin (rare/productive in compounds) | having a particular form or lacking fixed shape | amorphous, polymorphous, stereomorphous | Used in adjectives to mean “shaped” or “lacking definite shape”; common in scientific and literary contexts. |
| –mony | Latin via Old French (rare/lexicalized) | state, condition, or ceremony | matrimony, ceremony, alimony | Historical noun-forming suffix meaning state or condition; many examples are borrowed and lexicalized. |
| –mancy | Greek (productive, specialized) | divination or prophetic practice by a method | necromancy, geomancy, bibliomancy | Specialist suffix for types of divination; many classic and coined forms in occult and literary contexts. |
| –mancer | Greek via Latin/French (rare/derived) | practitioner of a divinatory art | necromancer, pyromancer, bibliomancer | Agent-forming suffix denoting a diviner or practitioner of a particular mantic technique. |
| –mas | Old English/Old Norse/Latin (lexicalized, rare) | feast or mass (in feast-day names) | Christmas, Michaelmas, Lammas | Historically from Old English/Latin ‘mass’; appears in names of Christian feast days and is largely lexicalized. |
| –made | Old English (productive in compounds) | made by or produced in a specified way | homemade, handmade, factory-made | Common in compounds to indicate origin or manufacture; productive and clear in everyday English. |
| –minded | Old English (productive) | having a specified mental attitude or tendency | open-minded, single-minded, absent-minded | Suffix forming adjectives meaning “having a particular mind or attitude”; widely used and productive. |
| –mentum | Latin (Late Latin) (obsolete/rare in English formation) | instrument, means, or result (historical) | momentum, rostrum? no rostrum is different, momentum | Latin nominal ending preserved in borrowings like momentum; not productive in modern English but visible in some classical borrowings. |
Descriptions
–ment
–most
–meter
–metry
–mania
–maniac
–manic
–man
–monger
–mate
–morph
–morphic
–morphism
–morphous
–mony
–mancy
–mancer
–mas
–made
–minded
–mentum