This list includes 30 Suffixes that start with E, from “-ectomy” to “-ey”. They range from productive modern endings to specialized or historical forms and help form nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They are useful for students, writers, ESL learners, and editors.
Suffixes that start with E are word endings that modify meaning or word class, such as “-en” and “-ectomy”. Many come from Latin or Old English, and a few like “-ectomy” reflect specialized medical usage.
Below you’ll find the table with origin, meaning, and example words.
Origin: Shows the language or period where a suffix comes from, so you can assess historical or loanword patterns.
Meaning: Gives a short, practical gloss of the suffix so you quickly understand how it changes a base word.
Example words: Lists two to four common words using the suffix so you see real usage and formation patterns.
Suffixes that start with E
| Suffix | Origin | Meaning | Example words | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| –ed | Old English | past tense / past participle | walked, jumped, learned | Common inflectional ending marking past or past participle; highly productive in regular verbs. |
| –er | Old English | agent noun / comparative adjective | teacher, runner, taller, newer | Dual-purpose suffix: makes agent nouns (teacher) and comparatives (taller); extremely productive and common. |
| –est | Old English | superlative adjective | biggest, fastest, warmest | Superlative inflection for adjectives and adverbs; widely used in everyday English. |
| –es | Old English | plural / 3rd-person singular present | boxes, watches, goes, does | Variant of -s used after sibilant or voiceless endings; marks plurals or verb agreement. |
| –en | Old English | make/become; verb/adjective forming | golden, shorten, strengthen, eaten | Forms adjectives (golden) and verbs (shorten); also appears as past-participle marker in irregular verbs. |
| –ee | French/Latin | recipient, patient, beneficiary | employee, escapee, lessee, interviewee | Noun-forming suffix denoting the person affected by an action; productive, common in legal/occupational terms. |
| –eer | French/Dutch | agent, specialist, occupation | engineer, volunteer, mountaineer, profiteer | Agentive suffix often for occupations or specialists; productive and common in borrowings and coinages. |
| –ess | Latin/French | feminine agent or role | actress, goddess, waitress, stewardess | Feminine marker for nouns; historically productive but sometimes avoided now for gender-neutral language. |
| –ery | Old French | place, trade, collection, quality | bakery, pottery, trickery, bravery | Noun-forming suffix for places, trades, collectives, or qualities; fairly productive. |
| –esque | French | in the style of, resembling | picturesque, Kafkaesque, statuesque | Adds “in the style of” meaning; used for artistic or critical descriptors. |
| –ette | French | diminutive or feminine | kitchenette, cigarette, majorette, suffragette | Diminutive/feminine suffix from French; productive for informal coinages and loanwords. |
| –et | Old French | diminutive, small (loanwords) | ringlet, booklet, clarinet, tablet | Diminutive suffix found in many loanwords; less productive today but common in established words. |
| –ese | Italian/Portuguese | language or people, origin | Chinese, Portuguese, Sudanese, Siamese | Denotes nationality, language, or origin; standard in demonyms and language names. |
| –ence | Latin | state or quality (noun) | presence, reference, dependence, patience | Abstract noun-forming suffix indicating state, quality, or action; common in Latinate vocabulary. |
| –ency | Latin | state, condition, or office (noun) | urgency, fluency, dependency, latency | Noun-forming variant of -ence often emphasizing condition, function, or office. |
| –ent | Latin | adjectival / agentive noun | dependent, student, fluent, correspondent | Forms adjectives and agent nouns in Latinate vocabulary; common and productive in learned words. |
| –escent | Latin | becoming; in the process of | pubescent, incandescent, obsolescent | Adjectival suffix meaning “becoming” or “beginning to be”; used for developmental or processual states. |
| –escence | Latin | process or state of becoming | adolescence, fluorescence, coalescence | Noun form of -escent denoting a process, state, or condition. |
| –eous | Latin/Old French | adjectival “having the quality of” | courageous, gaseous, advantageous | Adjectival ending (variant of -ous) from Latinate sources; common in many learned words. |
| –emic | Greek/medical | pertaining to a condition or region | endemic, epidemic, pandemic | Adjectival combining form used in medicine and epidemiology; productive in scientific contexts. |
| –emia | Greek/medical | blood condition or disease state | anemia, leukemia, septicemia | Medical noun-forming combining form indicating blood-related conditions; common in clinical terminology. |
| –ectomy | Greek/medical | surgical removal of something | appendectomy, tonsillectomy, vasectomy | Combining form for surgical removal; highly productive in medical nomenclature. |
| –esthesia | Greek/medical | sensation, perception | anesthesia, paresthesia, hypesthesia | Medical combining form relating to sensation or perception; used in clinical and technical terms. |
| –eth | Old English | archaic 3rd-person singular verb ending | speaketh, goeth, hath | Early Modern English verb inflection; now archaic or stylistic (poetry, liturgical). |
| –ern | Old English | relating to direction/place; adjectival | western, southern, northern, eastern | Forms regional or directional adjectives; common in geographic and descriptive terms. |
| –eur | French | agent/result in loanwords | amateur, connoisseur, chauffeur, marguerite? | Borrowed French agentive/nominal suffix; not productive in English but common in many loanwords. |
| –end | Latin (gerundive) | thing to be / noun from Latin participle | dividend, stipend, reverend, moribund? | Fossilized Latin gerundive/nominal element in certain nouns; not productive in modern English. |
| –ey | Old Norse/Old English | island/place-name element | Jersey, Orkney, Guernsey | Place-name suffix meaning “island”; lexical in toponyms, not generally productive in everyday vocabulary. |
| –ene | Greek/chemical | hydrocarbon double-bond (chemical) | ethene, benzene, propene, fluorene | Productive chemical nomenclature suffix indicating an alkene or certain ring systems; common in scientific terms. |
| –ella | Latin/Italian | diminutive or feminine (loanwords) | novella, patella, Mozzarella, Cinderella | Diminutive/feminine suffix common in loanwords and scientific names; present but not highly productive in general English. |
Descriptions
–ed
–er
–est
–es
–en
–ee
–eer
–ess
–ery
–esque
–ette
–et
–ese
–ence
–ency
–ent
–escent
–escence
–eous
–emic
–emia
–ectomy
–esthesia
–eth
–ern
–eur
–end
–ey
–ene
–ella