-y
/-i/
-y suffix: added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, either “involving the referent” or “analogous to it”.
Suffix (1)
-y (adjective-forming suffix, comparative -ier, superlative -iest)
- Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, either “involving the referent” or “analogous to it”.
- mess + -y → messy
- mouse + -y → mousy
- Added to verbs to form adjectives meaning "inclined to".
- run + -y → runny
- panic + -y → panicky
- Added to adjectives to form informal synonyms or adjectives meaning "somewhat, rather".
- bald + -y → baldy
- bitter + -y → bittery
Suffix (2)
-y (noun-forming suffix, plural -ies)
- Forming diminutive nouns.
- gran(nam) + -y → granny
- pin(afore) + -y → pinny
- Forming familiar names, pet names, nicknames and terms of endearment.
- And(rew) + -y → Andy
- Bill + -y → Billy
- Added for metrical reasons to songs, often in children's music where it may carry diminutive associations.
- Forming colloquial nouns signifying the person or thing associated with suffixed noun or verb.
- fridge + -y → fridgy (“fridge magnet”)
- junk + -y → junky
- Forming nouns relative to an adjective.
- bald + -y → baldy
- dum(b) + -y → dummy
- Forming colloquial interjections or phrases.
- alright + -y → alrighty
- oops + -y → oopsy
- Forming childish variants of verbs.
- eat + -y → eaty
- sleep + -y → sleepy
Suffix (3)
-y (noun-forming suffix, countable and uncountable, plural -ies)
- Forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state.
- modest + -y → modesty
- honest + -y → honesty
- Used in the name of some locations which end in -ia in Latin.
- Italy, Germany, Saxony, Hungary, Sicily, Lombardy, Tuscany, Albany, Brittany, Gascony, Burgundy, Picardy, Normandy, Romandy, Savoy, Muscovy, Tartary, Arcady, Thessaly, Troy, Turkey.
Suffix (4)
-y
- Denotes the infinitive of verbs when used intransitively.
- But thee, thee wut ruckee, and ſquattee, and doattee in the Chimly Coander lick an Axwaddle ; and wi' the zame tha wut rakee up, and gookee, and tell doil, tell Dildrams and Buckingham Jenkins.An Exmoor Scolding, A. Brice; B. Thorn, 1771, A Vocabulary or Glossary, D, s.v. To tell Dildrams […], page 43
- Where's your Tom now? Au! he do worky down to factory— he've a-workèd to the gigs two year1886, Frederic Thomas Elworthy, “Gig, Gig-mill”, in The West Somerset Word-Book, volume 1, London: Trübner & Co., page 284
Synonyms of -y
16 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of -y
| comparative | -ier |
|---|---|
| superlative | -iest |
| plural | -ies |
| alternative form | -ie |
| alternative form | -ey |
| alternative form | -ee |
Origin of -y
From Middle English -y, -i, from Old English -iġ (“-y, -ic”, suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-g, from Proto-Germanic *-īgaz (“-y, -ic”), from Proto-Indo-European *-kos, *-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”), Gothic -𐌹𐌲𐍃 (-igs, “-y”), Latin -icus (“-y, -ic”), Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós), Sanskrit -इक (-ika). Doublet of -ac and -ic.
Cognate with Scots -ie, being inherited directly from the same source Middle English -ie, -i, from Old English -iġ (“-ie, -y”, diminutive suffix), possibly from Proto-West Germanic *-ij-, *-j- (diminutive suffix). Not related with Dutch -je, -ie, regional Low German -je, which are from Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn (English -kin as in lambkin), nor with German -i, which is from Proto-West Germanic *-īn (English -en as in maiden). The vowel /i/ has an onomatopoeic quality to it, which may reinforce its occurrence in diminutives.
From Middle English -y, -ie, -ee, -e, from Anglo-Norman and Middle French -ie and -é, from Latin -ia, -ium, -tās, Ancient Greek -ίᾱ (-íā), -ειᾰ (-eiă), -ιον (-ion). Cognate (as far as Latin -ia is involved) with German -ei and Dutch -ij.
Questions about -y
- What does -y mean?
- -y means added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”, either “involving the referent” or “analogous to it”.
- What part of speech is -y?
- -y is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -y?
- -y is pronounced /-i/.
Words near -y in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -y (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--y.wav.
Cite this entry: “-y.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-y. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.