It's The End Of The Word As We Know It Quiz

Answer: -acity

Denoting the quality or state of something, when -acity is added as a suffix it forms a noun which corresponds to adjectives ending in -acious. For example, if one is tenacious, you exhibit tenacity. Other examples would include veracity (veracious), audacity (audacious), mendacity (mendacious) and voracity (voracious).

Answer: -gamy

Taken from the Greek "gamos" meaning marriage, -gamy is used in words like monogamy (married to one partner for an extended period of time), exogamy (marrying outside the tribe), bigamy (married to two or more spouses simultaneously) and allogamy(cross-fertilization in plants).

Answer: -trophy

The suffix originates from the Greek "trophē" meaning nourishment. When this suffix is added it creates a number of words, many of which relate to medical conditions or terminology. Dystrophy (genetic disorder), atrophy (waste away, deteriorate), hypertrophy (growing abnormally large) and eutrophy (rich in mineral and organic nutrients that promote a proliferation of algae and aquatic plants) are all examples using this suffix.

Answer: -escence

Examples of words made by using this suffix are fluorescence (electromagnetic radiation emission), evanescence (the process of dissipating or vanishing like vapour), putrescence (the state of rotting ) and adolescence (the period between puberty and adulthood). The suffix forms a noun which corresponds to adjectives ending in -escent.

Answer: -iasis

This suffix is predominantly used in medical terminology. "Webster's Collegiate" dictionary defines it as "a noun suffix used to form names of physical disorders resulting from the agent denoted by the stem word". Examples of words formed using this suffix are, myiasis (fly larvae infestation), trypanosomiasis (trypanosome infection, which causes sleeping sickness), cholelithiasis (gallstone formation) and psoriasis (inflammatory skin disease).

Answer: -pnea

Originating from the Greek "pneō" which means to breathe, when -pnea or its alternative form -pnoea, is added it always relates to breathing in some way. Examples of the use of this suffix are dyspnea (shortness of breath), apnea (cessation of breathing), orthopnea (only able to breath when standing upright) and bradypnea (abnormally slow breathing).

Answer: -arium

There are a number of words utilising the -arium suffix. Words like aquarium, terrarium, vivarium and herbarium are all structures of some sort designed to house specific things: herbarium for dried plants, a vivarium for keeping research animals, a terrarium for keeping live plants and animals like turtles or lizards and an aquarium for keeping fish. The suffix is Latin in origin.

Answer: -ward

This suffix is one of the more common suffixes used in everyday language. Forward, backward, toward, upward and downward are some of the more obvious examples. Any direction in which you would like to move can have this suffix added, including the cardinal directions. The origin of this suffix is Old English "-weard" which simply means towards.

Answer: -ese

"Webster's Collegiate" dictionary states that this suffix is probably of Italian origin. The most common use of this suffix is to denote the inhabitants of a country or their language as in Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese or even Havanese. Other uses include journalese (journalistic writing style), academese (formal communication style favoured by academics) and bureaucratese (formal style of communication favoured by bureaucrats) which are often disparaging ways of describing these communication styles.

Answer: -opsy

This suffix is taken from the Greek "-opsiā" which means sight, seeing. This is another suffix which is generally used more in medical terms. Autopsy, biopsy and necropsy are all medical terms. Not to be confused with words like copsy (used to describe an area with a number of copses) whose suffix is actually just '-y'.