Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • suffix Forming diminutive nouns. Also used for familiar and pet names.
  • suffix Forming abstract nouns denoting a state, condition, or quality.
  • suffix Used in the name of some locations which end in -ia in Latin.
  • suffix Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning "having the quality of".
  • suffix Added to verbs to form adjectives meaning "inclined to".
  • suffix Variation of -ie added to nouns, adjectives and names to form terms of affection.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English and Scots

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman and Middle French -ie and -e, from Latin -ia, -ium, -tas, Ancient Greek -ία. Cognate (as far as Latin -ia is involved) with German -ei and Dutch -ij.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English -y, -i, from Old English -iġ ("-y, -ic", suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-īgaz (“-y, -ic”), from Proto-Indo-European *-ikos, *-iḱos (“-y, -ic”). Cognate with Scots -ie ("-y"), West Frisian -ich ("-y"), Dutch -ig ("-y"), Low German -ig ("-y"), German -ig ("-y"), Swedish -ig ("-y"), Latin -icus ("-y, -ic").

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Examples

  • An hour and a half of stand-up and about 40 minutes of my sh---y band, he says.

    Eddie Murphy in Rolling Stone: No More Kid Films, A Beverly Hills Cop TV Show? 2011

  • Sorry, with its -y suffix—meaning “full of” but also used to form pet names—seems more colloquial than regret.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • Sorry, with its -y suffix—meaning “full of” but also used to form pet names—seems more colloquial than regret.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • If you've been doing more and more browsing on your phone, then you've likely become used to having almost no "chrome," far more visual tab management, and a more immersive, less "desktop"-y, more manual browsing experience.

    Site Home Steven Sinofsky 2011

  • Truly I can, not all the time, but I can take joy at really sh---y situations.

    NYDN Rss JOYCE CHEN 2011

  • I know hockey coaches love to add a -y to the end of players' names, so I figured maybe he was referring to some player named Hinkshaw that i didn't know.

    NY Daily News 2011

  • "Let's bring these people to Radio Sh---y Music Hall tomorrow night and have a f---ing party," Sheen declared at his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour in

    NY Daily News 2011

  • Walking into Sonar to escape the late-afternoon heat, Pulling Teeth at first felt like a comforting throwback - the kind of late-'90s Converge -y metallic hardcore that popped up a lot in my high-school years.

    News 2011

  • Al Green -y organ fills and the way Hamilton sings against the snap of the drums, as though the music all around him was a voice telling him what he doesn't want to hear: that the writing is on the wall, that the love affair is over.

    News 2012

  • Truly I can, not all the time, but I can take joy at really sh---y situations.

    NYDN Rss JOYCE CHEN 2011

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