Lesson 6: Word Endings
- Objectives
- Endings as Suffixes
- Compound Endings
- Vocabulary List
- Vocabulary Practice
- Reflection Questions
Objectives
- Become familiar with common endings in bioscientific vocabulary
- Learn how endings affect parts of speech
- Introduce compound endings
Endings as Suffixes
Suffixes are roots that attach to the ends of words. So far, we’ve seen how some roots can change between being prefixes, bases, or suffixes depending on where they’re found in a term. However, there are some root patterns that are usually found only at the ends of words. To distinguish these from suffixes in general, we’ll call these roots endings. Endings differ from other roots in that they can’t stand on their own. However, they do govern the part of speech of the entire word— creating adjectives, nouns, or verbs.
Let’s look at some examples:
- cardi + -ac = cardiac, “heart-related”
- chromat + -ic = chromatic, “color-related”
- spher + -oid = spheroid, “sphere-shaped”
To distinguish endings from other roots, we’ll always put a - in front of them, as above.
One of the key differences between endings and the other roots in addition to position is that endings themselves are not actually from any specific part of speech. They are derived from patterns in how adjectives, verbs, and some nouns are formed in Greek and Latin, as we’ve seen in Lesson 3.
For our purposes, most endings create only one part of speech. That means that any ending introduced in the adjectives table, for example, will only create adjectives. However, there are some cases where it’s not clear what part of speech is created from an ending. For example, hydrate can be a verb, meaning to fill something with water. Hydrate can also be a noun indicating a hydrogen compound. To avoid ambiguity in assignments, we’ll use the following shorthand:
- (n.) for nouns
- (a.) for adjectives
- (v.) for verbs
Context is also important! Be sure you’re paying close attention to the original meanings of these suffixes so you know how the words are being used.
Noun-Forming Endings
As the name suggests, noun-forming endings are endings that form nouns. Generally, these endings will denote a quality, process, or state of being. The language of origin is omitted from these charts because the origin of an ending doesn’t really affect whether it attaches to Greek roots or Latin roots.
Endings with an asterisk (*) have identical forms that have different definitions and consequently form different parts of speech. This is an unfortunate side effect of Anglicization of Latin and Greek. For example, -ary (n.) and -ary (a.) would be distinguished in Latin by the endings -arium and -arius, respectively. However, during Anglicization, both of these endings dropped their last syllable (which would have been inflected), resulting in two different -arys.
Common noun-forming endings include:
| Root | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ter/-tor | means of, place for | theater |
| -ist/-ast | one who | dentist |
| -te/-t | one who, that which | gamete |
| -ia/-y | state of, condition, quality | dyslexia |
| -ism | condition of | alcoholism |
| -sis/-sia/-sy | act of, process of | thesis |
| -ma/-m/-me | result of | enzyme |
| -oma(t) | tumor of | sarcoma |
| -osis | disease of | psychosis |
| -itis | inflammation of | appendicitis |
| -in/-ine | chemical substance of | morphine |
| -us | individual, person who | sarcophagus |
| -(o)id | related to, resembling | arachnid |
| -oid | resembling, having the shape of | meteoroid |
| -ory/-ary | place for, location of | dormitory |
| -orium/-arium | place for, location of | aquarium |
| -itude | state of, state of having | fortitude |
| -ity/-ety/-ty | state of, state of having | brevity |
| -ence/-ance | state of being | resemblance |
| -ency/-ancy | state of being | residency |
| -(t)ion | process of, state of, act of | motion |
| -ure | act of, result of | capture |
| -men(t/tum) | result of, means of | regimen, momentum |
| -cle/-cule | result of, means of | spiracle, molecule |
| -culum | result of, means of | curriculum |
| -um | result of, means of | spectrum |
This is not an exhaustive list. We’ll see more noun-forming endings and their specific use cases in Lesson 8.
Adjective-Forming Endings
Endings in this table turn their words into adjectives. Many of these overlap with suffixes that you’ve seen in Lesson 3. Unlike nouns, it’s harder to give definitions for adjective-forming endings. Many of them will amount to “like”, “related to”, or “pertaining to”. It’s easier to see the force of these endings in context.
| Root | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -(i/e)al | like, pertaining to, related to | thermal, radial, boreal |
| -(i)an | being, related to | circadian |
| -(i/e/u)ous | having, related to | heterogeneous |
| -ic/-tic/-ac | like, related to | centric, static, cardiac |
| -ile/-il | like, related to | virile |
| -ar | like, pertaining to, related to | muscular |
| -ine | resembling, related to | marine |
| -ary/-ory | resembling, pertaining to | sanguinary, mandatory |
| -ate/-ite | having, resembling, characterized by | accurate |
| -ent/-ant | having, being, like | reagent, reactant |
| -aceous | like, resembling, bearing | setaceous |
| -able/-ible | capable, able to | agile |
| -ive | tending to, like, characterized by being | creative |
| -itious | resembling, characterized by | fictitious |
| -acious | inclined to, characterized by | tenacious |
Verb-Forming Endings
Compared to noun-forming and adjective-forming suffixes, the verb-forming suffixes are few. These since they usually denote a process that something undergoes, rather than direct action. Like adjectives, it’s sometimes hard to see the force of the ending in the definition of the word. Usually, it’ll just be an indicator that the word is a verb, which you can define with the infinitive definitions as outlined in Lesson 1.
| Root | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ize | to do, to treat with | oxidize |
| -ate | to do, to treat with | circulate |
| -fy | to do, to cause, to make | calcify |
Compound Endings
It’s possible for one word to have many endings tacked onto each other! The rule of thumb is that the very last ending is what determines what part of speech a term is. Here are some examples:
- spheroidal has two endings: -oid and -al. We know that -oid creates nouns and -al creates adjectives. Since -al is the last ending in this word, we know that spheroidal must also be an adjective.
- regularity has two endings: -ar and -ity. We know that -ar creates adjectives and -ity creates nouns. Since -ity is the last ending in this word, we know that regularity must be a noun.
Be careful, though! Some endings might look like compounds, when they’re actually not! For example, the ending -ary might look like a compound of -ar and -y. Most of the endings that you’ll need for this class can be found here. If you’re ever unsure whether an ending is a compound or not, try searching through the tables here first!
Vocabulary List
In addition to the endings introduced in this lesson, be familiar with the following roots:
| Root | Language of origin | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| thea | Greek | to view, to watch | theatrics |
| gam(e) | Greek | to marry, to join | monogamy |
| lex(i) | Greek | to read | lexicon |
| ly(s) | Greek | to dissolve, to loosen | dialysis |
| zym(e) | Greek | fermented, leaven | enzyme |
| petr/peter | Greek | rock | saltpeter |
| rhe(u)/rrh(ea) | Greek | to flow | rheumatism |
| rhythm | Greek | regularity, flow | rhythmic |
| mol(e) | Latin | weight, heaviness | molar |
| dorm/dormit | Latin | to sleep | dormant |
| fort/fors | Latin | strong | fortissimo |
| simil/sembl | Latin | alike, similar | similarity |
| sid/sed | Latin | to sit | sediment |
| mo(v/t) | Latin | to move | movement |
| capt/cept | Latin | to catch, to get | capture |
| curr | Latin | to run | current |
| centr | Latin | middle, center | central |
| cur | Latin | to care for, to oversee | curator |
| serv | Latin | to serve, to save | servant |
| ag/act(i) | Latin | to do, to drive, to force | agent |
| duc(t) | Latin | to lead | ductile |
Vocabulary Practice
Practice Set A: Based on the final ending in each word, tell what part of speech it is. (If it could be multiple, give all possibilities.)
- thermodynamic
- thermodynamics
- analysis
- melanoma
- petrify
- petrification
- arrhythmia
- dystrophy
- coagulate
- synthesize
Practice Set B: Identify the roots in each of the following words, give their language of origin, and their definitions. Also give their part of speech. Then, following the guidelines in Lesson 4, arrange the definitions of the individual roots to create a literal definition.
- curator
- captive
- sedimentary
- amphitheater
- molecular
- momentum
- concentric
- concentration
- recurrence
- conduct
- inception
- resemblance
- bradylexia
- gamete
- polygamous
Reflection Questions
- Refer back to the words in Vocabulary Practice for Lessons 1-5. Choose 5 that have suffix endings. Give what part of speech each word is, and what its suffix means.
- Take any two of the example words from this lesson and change them to another part of speech using a suffix ending. (It doesn’t have to create an actual English word.)
- Based on what you know about Latin and Greek morphology and the suffixes from Lesson 3, can you figure out what the original Latin or Greek form of any of the endings are?
- How have you seen these endings used in words outside what you’ve learned in the vocabulary for this class?