Spanish word

sufijo

Pronunciation

IPA/suˈfixo/

Meaning

  • masculine nounsuffix

Example

¿Qué sufijo tiene esta palabra?

What suffix does this word have?

Illustration for sufijo (suffix)

More examples

En conversación, el sufijo -ito suele indicar cariño o tamaño pequeño.

In conversation, the diminutive suffix -ito usually indicates affection or small size.

Core concept

A word ending that changes meaning or grammatical category.

Common phrases

  • sufijo -ito

    diminutive suffix -ito

  • sufijo -mente

    adverb-forming suffix -mente

  • sufijo -ón

    augmentative suffix -ón

Similar words

terminación: Ending that marks inflection or a specific grammatical form (tense, number, agreement).
prefijo: Element attached at a word's beginning that alters meaning or changes grammatical class.
afijo: Bound element added to a stem that provides lexical meaning or a grammatical function.

Definition in Spanish

Parte añadida al final de una palabra que altera su significado, por ejemplo sufijos diminutivos o formadores de adverbios.

Word origin

From Latin suffīxus, the past participle of suffigere 'to fasten under', so the term denotes an affix fixed to the end of a word.

Usage tips

  • The adverbial suffix -mente attaches to the feminine form of an adjective and preserves the base spelling (rápido → rápidamente), so adverbs often look like the adjective plus -mente.

Opposites

Word lists with this word