telijk

Telijk is a suffix in Dutch used to form adjectives that express relation to or characteristics of a base noun or concept. It is not a standalone word; rather, it attaches to stems to create descriptive terms. The suffix -telijk is part of the broader family of Dutch adjective-forming endings, closely related to -lijk and -elijk. In many bases that end in a consonant, the t is retained when the suffix is added, producing forms such as ambtelijk, statelijk, gemeentelijk, and rechtelijk.

Common meanings and usage

Telijk adjectives typically convey official, administrative, legal, or state-related nuances. They are frequent in formal writing, legal texts, government documents, and policy discussions. The words can function attributively (een ambtelijke werkwijze) or predicatively (de rechtbank is rechtelijk bevoegd).

Representative examples

- ambtelijk meaning official or administrative

- statelijk meaning state-related or government-owned

- gemeentelijk meaning municipal

- rechtelijk meaning legal or juridical

Etymology and morphology

Telijk is formed through the productive Dutch pattern of creating adjectives from nouns or noun-derived stems. It often arises from a combination of a stem ending in a consonant and the suffix -elijk, yielding the visible form -telijk in many common words. This mirrors a broader tendency in Dutch to fuse stems with adjective endings in bureaucratic and institutional vocabularies.

See also

- Lijk and -elijk adjective endings

- Dutch adjective formation

- Official and legal terminology in Dutch