# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/41 "2012-07-29T18:24:08Z")
One interesting thing about the “-aholic” splinter is that it contains a suffix itself ("-ic"). One might expect that, if an alcoholic is someone who is addicted to alcohol, the word for someone addicted to work would be “workic,” not “workaholic.” It’s possible that “-aholic” came into use instead of “-ic” for this meaning because the latter already had a meaning (“pertaining to”). The “-ic” suffix transforms a noun to an adjective. For example, in the word “Icelandic” it changes the noun “Iceland” to an adjective meaning “of or pertaining to Iceland.” It retains this meaning (or something like it) in the other common meaning of “alcoholic.” An alcoholic beverage is not a beverage that drinks too much. The “-aholic” suffix comes from a word that changed from one part of speech to another. “Alcoholic” was originally an adjective. As so commonly happens in English, people started using it as a noun. Maybe this has something to do with why people use the “-aholic” splinter instead of the “-ic” suffix for this purpose. “-Aholic” changes a noun into another noun (i.e. it doesn’t change parts of speech). ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/42 "2012-07-29T18:41:09Z")
It’s true, I’m a rageaholic! I just can’t live without rageahol! –Homer Simpson _The Simpsons_, “I Am Furious (Yellow)” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/43 "2012-07-29T18:52:55Z")
Then there’s \*-smurf-, \* a semi-productive infix (if you can call an infix something that _replaces_ morphemic segments). I still sometimes say “absismurfly” (for “absolutely”). Maybe that’s why some people don’t like to talk to me anymore ;). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/44 "2012-07-29T18:58:58Z")
Correction: _-lute-_ in _absolutely_ is not a morpheme, just a syllabic segment of a word. ---
**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 30, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/45 "2012-07-30T15:01:39Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Correction: _-lute-_ in _absolutely_ is not a morpheme, just a syllabic segment of a word. One of the many reasons I love this place 🙂 Words like morpheme, tmesis, affix just never come up at the lunchroom table. 'nother one: -verse (multiverse, Heinleinverse) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/46 "2012-07-30T15:28:03Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Arguably, tacking “burger” onto the end of a meat sandwich name, like a chickenburger. Doesn’t count. Have you never sampled the cuisine of the delightful Lower Saxony villages of Chickenburg, Veggieburg and Bäcon-Double-Cheeseburg? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/47 "2012-07-30T17:55:30Z")
-razzi as in paparazzi is one I heard used as a group that stalks and harrasses. I heard someone called a group twitterazzi on some talk show. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/48 "2012-07-31T17:22:59Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Another, fairly recent, splinter is -zilla, as in bridezilla. Are there any other words with -zilla? A year or two back we had some antique roses cut down, and the guy doing it named a particularly dangerous one “Thornzilla.” (BTW, cutting old roses down is good for them. In a couple of months, one was as tall as I am, very full, and starting to bloom. Thornzilla and the others were not far behind.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/49 "2012-07-31T20:34:49Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > -razzi as in paparazzi is one I heard used as a group that stalks and harrasses. > I heard someone called a group twitterazzi on some talk show. Also “glitterazzi.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/50 "2012-07-31T21:08:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Also “glitterazzi.” Are you sure you’re not confusing this with “-ati”, based on “literati”, as I mentioned [above](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15310438&postcount=20)? “-ati” means roughly “the leading members of a given clique or society”. I haven’t heard “Twitterazzi”, but I can see it could be applied to Twitter stalkers. “Twitterati” is a fairly common one, meaning celeb tweeters in general. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/51 "2012-07-31T21:58:00Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Are you sure you’re not confusing this with “-ati”, based on “literati”, as I mentioned [above](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15310438&postcount=20)? > > “-ati” means roughly “the leading members of a given clique or society”. > > I haven’t heard “Twitterazzi”, but I can see it could be applied to Twitter stalkers. “Twitterati” is a fairly common one, meaning celeb tweeters in general. I just realized I’d been conflating those myself! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/52 "2012-08-01T01:08:54Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > I just realized I’d been conflating those myself! Thanks! The Urban Dictionary has entries for both. Another that occured to me was robo-, used in various words such as robocall, robocop, and numerous others. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/53 "2012-08-03T19:58:02Z")
There’s also the wonderful word “stalkerazzi.” Martini has given us the suffix -tini, as in greentini, appletini, vodkatini and a slew of other drinks. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/54 "2012-08-03T22:17:30Z")
I don’t believe anyone has mentioned the practice (by some) of adding “itis” to a word in a colloquial sense to denote some pathology or excess associated with the root word. Examples include ‘[senioritis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senioritis)’ and “[wiitis](http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/06/us-wii-elbow-idUSN0616721120070606)”. There must be more, but damned if I can think of them just now. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/55 "2012-08-04T04:35:00Z")
Thought of a splinter prefix: “Mc” from “McDonalds,” as in McJob: "…slang for a low-paying, low-prestige dead end job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement.[1] The term McJob comes from the name of the fast-food restaurant McDonald’s, but is used to describe any low-status job — regardless of the employer — where little training is required, staff turnover is high, and workers’ activities are tightly regulated by managers. [(wiki)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McJob) Heh there’s a whole list of [McWords.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McWords) Here’s another one: Octo-, e.g. Octomom. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/56 "2012-08-04T09:35:09Z")
Is “octo-” used these days to mean something other than “eight”? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/57 "2012-08-04T09:40:45Z")
Did someone already mention “-cicle”? Shorn from "icicle, " then attached to “pop -,” later to “cream-”… ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/58 "2012-08-05T05:20:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Did someone already mention “-cicle”? Shorn from "icicle, " then attached to “pop -,” later to “cream-”… … and, of course, to “corps-” ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/59 "2012-08-05T06:30:27Z")
-palooza has been a popular suffix since Perry Farrell started his concert festival. It seems to have displaced all the -aganzas of years gone by. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274/60 "2012-08-05T08:08:52Z")
> [@sco3tt](#): > > -palooza has been a popular suffix since Perry Farrell started his concert festival. It seems to have displaced all the -aganzas of years gone by. Nice one! What’s the origin of the word “lalapalooza”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-word-suffixes/629274.md?page=4)