Lesson · V.2.3

Common suffixes

The HESI A2 rewards readers who can spot a suffix and predict a word's part of speech and meaning. Here are the endings worth memorising, with health flavoured examples.

ObjectiveV.2.3Read3 minExam weightWord Parts ≈ 38% of Vocabulary

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What you will be able to do

Identify the part of speech a suffix signals (noun, adjective, verb, or adverb).
Use a suffix to narrow the meaning of an unfamiliar word on a timed question.
Tell apart suffixes that attach to the same root but reverse its meaning, such as -ful and -less.

What the lesson concludes

A suffix tells you the job a word does in a sentence before you even know its meaning.
Noun suffixes like -tion, -ment, and -ity turn actions or qualities into things you can name.
Adjective suffixes like -ous, -able, and -ic describe a quality or a capability.
-ate, -ify, and -ize turn a root into an action, which is why so many clinical verbs end this way.
When two suffixes look similar, check whether the word is doing (verb), describing (adjective), or naming (noun).