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134
-al: betrayal, portrayal, refusal
-ancy/-ency: vacancy, tendency
-dom:freedom kingdom
-hood: brotherhood, childhood
-ing: meaning, cleaning
-ion/~sion/-tion/-ation: operation, tension,
examination
-ism: darvinism, patriotism
-ment: agreement, unemployment
-ness: darkness, weakness
-ship: friendship, membership
-ty: cruelty, sanity, banality
-th: growth, strength
-y: difficulty, honesty
-ant/-ent: assistant, student, informant
-arian: vegetarian
-ее: refugee, employee, payee
-er: teacher, worker, singer
-ician: musician, politician
-ist: socialist, artist
-or: visitor, actor
-let: booklet, leaflet
-ess: actress, tigress, waitress
-ine: heroine
-ix: proprietrix
-ette: usherette
The four suffixes -ess, -ine, -ette are feminine.
Sometimes nouns formed by abstract noun suffixes may come to denote concrete things or persons as in
translation (a process and its result), beauty (may denote an abstract notion and a beautiful woman).
Compound nouns consist of at least two stems. The meaning of a compound is not a mere sum of its
elements. The main types of compound nouns are:
noun stem + noun stem:
seaman (моряк),
airmail (авиапочта)
adjective stem + noun stem:
bluebell (колокольчик),
blackbird (черный дрозд)
verb stem + noun stem:
pickpocket (карманный вор)
gerund + noun stem:
looking-glass (зеркало),
dancing-hall (танцевальный зал)
noun stem + prepositions + noun stem:
father-in-law (свекр, тесть)
mother-in-law (свекровь, теща)
man-of-war (военный корабль)
substantivised phrases:
forget-me-not (незабудка),
pick-me-up (тонизирующий напиток)
Morphological characteristics
§ 170. Morphologically nouns are characterized by the grammatical categories of number and case.
Gender does not find regular morphological expression. The distinction of male, female, and neuter may
correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun:
masculine (names of male beings)
-
boy, man, husband, bachelor, ox, cock;
feminine (names of female beings)
-
girl, woman, wife, maid, cow, hen;
neuter (names of inanimate objects)
-
table, house.
The distinction may be also expressed by word-formation of different types:
a) feminine suffixes
-ess (actress, hostess, poetess, tigress),
-ine (heroine),
-ette (usherette);
b) compounds of different patterns: