Etymograph

English

suffix

Suffix comes from Latin suffīxus, from fīxus ‘immovable, fixed, fastened’, and ultimately from fīgō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgō1‘fasten, fix’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīxus2‘immovable, fixed, fastened’next step skipped: Latin suffīgō
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffīxus2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1882suffix2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fixus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English suffix
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, An Etymological Dictionary of the Englis: “[...] by suffixing the ending -or to collaborat-, the…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgōWiktionary, Latin fixus‘fasten, fix’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīxusWiktionary, English suffix‘immovable, fixed, fastened’next step skipped: Latin suffīgō
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffīxusWiktionary, English suffix
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1882suffixWiktionary, English suffix. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, An Etymological Dictionary of the Englis: “[...] by suffixing the ending -or to collaborat-, the…”

Linked words

through Latin fīgō ‘fasten, fix’

crucify, 14 more

through Latin fīxus ‘immovable, fixed, fastened’

fix, 1 more

Today it means

noun A morpheme added at the end of a word to modify the word's meaning.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “suffix”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin fixus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin fīgō / suffix

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