-ling
/lɪŋ/
-ling suffix: small, immature, miniature.
Suffix (1)
-ling
Suffix (2)
-ling
- An adverbial suffix denoting manner, direction, or position.
Synonyms of -ling
Forms of -ling
| alternative form | -lings |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | -lyng |
| alternative form (dialectal) | -lin |
Origin of -ling
From Middle English -ling, from Old English -ling, from Proto-West Germanic *-ling, from Proto-Germanic *-lingaz, a nominal suffix, probably composed of Proto-Germanic *-ilaz (agent/instrumental/diminutive suffix) + Proto-Germanic *-ingaz (patronymic suffix). Akin to Dutch -ling, German -ling, Icelandic -lingur, Gothic -𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍃 (-liggs). More at -le, -ing.
From Middle English -ling, from Old English -ling, -linga, -lunga (adverbial suffix). Compare -long.
Words formed from -ling
- buckling
- castling
- darling
- daughterling
- doeling
- duckling
- earthling
- fatling
- fingerling
- fledgling
- fondling
- goatling
- godling
- gosling
- lambling
- lordling
- pigling
- princeling
- puffling
- spiderling
- sportling
- swanling
- vetchling
- cageling
- changeling
- endling
- firstling
- foundling
- hatchling
- hireling
- kindling
- nestling
- overling
- ridgeling
- sapling
- seedling
- shaveling
- starveling
- stripling
- suckling
- underling
- weakling
- wildling
- witling
- wordling
- worldling
- yearling
- youngling
- darkling
- flatling
- headling
- sideling
- sunderling
Questions about -ling
- What does -ling mean?
- -ling means small, immature, miniature.
- What part of speech is -ling?
- -ling is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -ling?
- -ling is pronounced /lɪŋ/.
Words near -ling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -ling (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--ling.wav.
Cite this entry: “-ling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-ling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.