przyrostkiem

Przyrostek, also known as a suffix, is a morpheme that is added to the end of a word to form a new word or to change the grammatical function of the word. In linguistics, suffixes are a type of affix, which are elements that are attached to a root word. Other types of affixes include prefixes, which are added to the beginning of a word, and infixes, which are inserted into the middle of a word.

Suffixes can be categorized in various ways. Grammatical suffixes, for example, modify a word's grammatical properties such as tense, number, or case, without changing its core meaning or word class. Examples include the "-ed" in "walked" to denote past tense or the "-s" in "cats" to indicate plurality. Lexical suffixes, on the other hand, create new words, often changing the word class or the semantic meaning. The suffix "-ness" in "happiness" transforms an adjective into a noun, while "-able" in "readable" can change a verb into an adjective.

The use of suffixes is a fundamental aspect of word formation in many languages, contributing to the richness and flexibility of vocabulary. They play a crucial role in inflectional morphology, where they mark grammatical distinctions, and in derivational morphology, where they create new lexemes. Understanding suffixes is essential for comprehending word structure and etymology.