B1 / B2 WORD FORMATION

1. Affixes

The words in the alphabetical list may be extended by the use of one or more of these affixes:

mini- with nouns, sometimes without a hyphen, e.g. minibus, mini-tour

non- with nouns and adjectives, e.g. non-essential

re- with verbs and their related nouns, usually without a hyphen, e.g. rename, renaming

self- with nouns and adjectives, e.g. self-importance, self-confident

un- negative prefix, e.g. unsafe

-able with verbs, to form adjectives, e.g. affordable

-ed (-d) with verbs, to form adjectives, e.g. limited, used

-er (-r) with verbs, to form nouns, e.g. teacher, advertiser; shopper, also comparative forms, e.g. brighter                                                                                                                             

-ese for nationalities/languages, e.g. Japanese

-ess referring to a woman or female animal, e.g. princess, lioness

N.B. it is less common to refer to women in this way nowadays, and usually safer to use the ‘standard’ form e.g. actor, author

-est superlative forms, e.g. tallest

-ful with nouns, for amount contained, e.g. spoonful; with nouns to form adjectives denoting

        characteristics or qualities, e.g. painful, peaceful

-ing with verbs, for activity or state, e.g. reading, frightening

-ish for nationalities or languages, e.g. Swedish; with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. childish

-ist with nouns, for occupations, e.g. novelist, guitarist

-less with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. breathless

-ly with adjectives to form adverbs, e.g. seriously; with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. friendly

-ment with verbs to form nouns, e.g. enjoyment

-or with verbs to form nouns, for people, e.g. inventor

-y with nouns to form adjectives, e.g. hair- hairy, sun- sunny