# Partial word suffixes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274 "2012-07-24T19:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/1 "2012-07-24T19:55:33Z")
Alcoholic - one addicted to alcohol Marathon - an endurance running race of 26.2 miles. Chop the tails off the above and you can construct: Workaholic, chocoholic, etc. (though sadly not narcotoholic) Danceathon, saleathon, etc. Are there other examples of suffixes like -oholic and -athon surgically grafted from other words? Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/2 "2012-07-24T19:57:54Z")
Something-phobic. Something-phrenic (usually done humorously, oddly enough). Something-rific (indicating terrific, rather than horrific). I blame the Germans. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/3 "2012-07-24T19:58:33Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Alcoholic - one addicted to alcohol > Marathon - an endurance running race of 26.2 miles. > Chop the tails off the above and you can construct: > > Workaholic, chocoholic, etc. (though sadly not narcotoholic) > Danceathon, saleathon, etc. > Are there other examples of suffixes like -oholic and -athon surgically grafted from other words? Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? Watergate - leading to \gates of all sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/4 "2012-07-24T20:08:08Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? I haven’t found a real authoritative one. Some people refer to them as pseudo-suffixes. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/5 "2012-07-24T20:10:23Z")
Eh, a [portmanteau](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau) suffix? Haven’t found an official name for it, but it describes it decently. Another one is “burger.” ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/6 "2012-07-24T20:46:16Z")
Portmanteau or pseudo, both work individually. Perhaps pseudomanteau suffix? Another one: -licious ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/7 "2012-07-24T20:54:24Z")
[something]-mania ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/8 "2012-07-24T21:10:16Z")
[something]-orama (Sorry for the double post, I thought of these too far apart) ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/9 "2012-07-24T21:29:30Z")
Do -phobia and -mania count? I thought they were true suffixes. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/10 "2012-07-24T22:51:22Z")
-arium like orphanarium ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/11 "2012-07-24T23:18:46Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Do -phobia and -mania count? I thought they were true suffixes. I agree. Those have standalone roots, not just a convenenient terminal syllable that can be appropriated for other uses. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/12 "2012-07-24T23:26:27Z")
How are we (if we are) excluding any productive noun-forming suffix? Like _-ness, -ism, -ist . . ._ ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/13 "2012-07-24T23:36:34Z")
An official term for these partially productive affixes is **splinter**. Here, from russian source:[Дубенец Э.М. Курс лекций и планы семинарских занятий по лексикологии английского языка скачать, читать бесплатно](http://www.homeenglish.ru/Textdubenez.htm) In the second half of the twentieth century the English wordbuilding system was enriched by creating so called splinters which scientists include in the affixation stock of the Modern English wordbuilding system. Splinters are the result of clipping the end or the beginning of a word and producing a number of new words on the analogy with the primary word-group. For example, there are many words formed with the help of the splinter mini- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «miniature»), such as «miniplane», «minijet», «minicycle», «minicar», «miniradio» and many others. All of these words denote obects of smaller than normal dimensions. On the analogy with «mini-» there appeared the splinter «maxi»- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «maximum»), such words as «maxi-series», «maxi-sculpture», «maxi-taxi» and many others appeared in the language. When European economic community was organized quite a number of neologisms with the splinter Euro- (apocopy produced by clipping the word «European») were coined, such as: «Euratom» «Eurocard», «Euromarket», «Europlug», «Eurotunnel» and many others. These splinters are treated sometimes as prefixes in Modern English. There are also splinters which are formed by means of apheresis, that is clipping the beginning of a word. The origin of such splinters can be variable, e.g. the splinter «burger» appeared in English as the result of clipping the German borrowing «Hamburger» where the morphological structure was the stem «Hamburg» and the suffix -er. However in English the beginning of the word «Hamburger» was associated with the English word «ham», and the end of the word «burger» got the meaning «a bun cut into two parts». On the analogy with the word «hamburger» quite a number of new words were coined, such as: «baconburger», «beefburger», «cheeseburger», «fishburger» etc ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/14 "2012-07-24T23:46:32Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Are there other examples of suffixes like -oholic and -athon surgically grafted from other words? Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? “[Cranberry morpheme](http://semanticcompositions.typepad.com/index/cranberry_morphemes/)” reuse (“[cran](http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?p=94)-[morphing](http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002794.html)” if you’re nasty…)? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/15 "2012-07-24T23:51:09Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > [COLOR=“DarkRed”]An official term for these partially productive affixes is **splinter**. And [here’s a source](http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/splinterterm.htm) that is not based on a website from the erstwhile Evil Empire. I’d go short of calling it “official,” though. It was coined only back in 1961, and doesn’t seem to have caught on particularly well. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/16 "2012-07-25T04:55:40Z")
“…Meistersinger” as coined by SNL IIRC… A mocking add-on. The spin doctors in politics are also spinmeisters. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/17 "2012-07-25T05:03:01Z")
Meister is a noun in its own right, though - if a compound noun phrase including meister is written as one word, that does not make the individual components suffixes or prefixes. Same goes for fest. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/18 "2012-07-25T06:21:01Z")
“Splinter” is used in many papers/articles on english morphology. [https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=eqn%2Ccconf%3D1.0%2Cmin\_length%3D2%2Crate\_low%3D0.025%2Crate\_high%3D0.025%2Csecond\_pass%3Dfalse%2Cnum\_suggestions%3D2%2Cignore\_bad\_origquery%3Dtrue&gs\_nf=1&gs\_mss=splinter%20mor&tok=RnV5Aj\_ibjSPhphxxeqfJw&cp=31&gs\_id=1jo&xhr=t&q=splinter+morphology+linguistics&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=splinter+morphology+linguistics&gs\_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r\_gc.r\_pw.r\_qf.,cf.osb&fp=cfe6d45e784e16e2&biw=1066&bih=541](https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=eqn%2Ccconf%3D1.0%2Cmin_length%3D2%2Crate_low%3D0.025%2Crate_high%3D0.025%2Csecond_pass%3Dfalse%2Cnum_suggestions%3D2%2Cignore_bad_origquery%3Dtrue&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=splinter%20mor&tok=RnV5Aj_ibjSPhphxxeqfJw&cp=31&gs_id=1jo&xhr=t&q=splinter+morphology+linguistics&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=splinter+morphology+linguistics&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=cfe6d45e784e16e2&biw=1066&bih=541) What do you find as alternatives? Clipping… I remember that from morphology papers ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/19 "2012-07-25T06:28:04Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > Meister is a noun in its own right, though - if a compound noun phrase including meister is written as one word, that does not make the individual components suffixes or prefixes. Same goes for fest. I think the “reusable” (productive) part is the affix. burgermeister grillmeister spinmeister ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/20 "2012-07-25T10:27:33Z")
I agree with \*\* Švejk\*\* that “meister” doesn’t really count. Another one: “literati” has given rise to glitterati, Twitterati and probably some other more obscure ones. “-ola”, as in “payola” also spread to other nouns, similar to the “-gate” suffix, to reflect shady goings-on. [Link](http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/455303?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21100943433463). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274.md?page=2)