-al

/əl/

-al suffix: of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also.

Suffix (1)

-al (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -al, superlative most -al)

Of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also.
- base + -al → basal
- cranium + -al → cranial
Forming nouns, especially of verbal action.
- propose + -al → proposal
- deny + -al → denial

Suffix (2)

IPA/æl/

-al

Forms the names of aldehydes.

-al meaning in Tamil

-al in Tamil

அல்

Forms of -al

comparative	more -al
superlative	most -al
plural	-als
alternative form	-all
alternative form	-ial
alternative form	-ual
alternative form	-arial

Origin of -al

From Middle English -al, from the Latin adjective suffix -ālis, or French, Middle French and Old French -el, -al. Distant doublet of -ar.

Clipping of aldehyde.

Words formed from -al

Questions about -al

What does -al mean?: -al means of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also.
What is -al in Tamil?: -al in Tamil is அல். See -al meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is -al?: -al is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -al?: -al is pronounced /əl/.

Words near -al in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: -al (page history and authors); -al (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--al.wav.

Cite this entry: “-al.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-al. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.