Learn the difference between words ending in –er, –or, and –ar, from caller and cooker to collar and cellar, via captor and calculator.
Word Families
The entries on this website list all possible derivatives, compounds, and related combinations (excluding –ly adverbs) from both non-learner’s (Lexico) and advanced learner’s dictionaries (CALD, OALD). Information about word origins is extracted from the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, Lexico, Online Etymology Dictionary, and Wordorigins.
Permanent or permanant? Assistant or assistent? Here are some practical notes as well as a selection of words ending in –ant and –ent.
It can be tricky to remember which words end in –ancy and which in –ency. These tips and the Advanced wordlist should help.
It can prove difficult to remember which words end in –ance and which in –ence. Here are some tips, along with the Advanced list of –ance and –ence nouns.
Words ending in –acy and –asy can be tricky, particularly as the suffixes sound the same. Here is the Advanced list of these nouns to help you get it right.
Tips for forming English words with –ible and –uble and the Advanced list of words ending in these suffixes
Tips for forming English words with –able and the Advanced list of words ending in –able
Mid 17th century: from Italian quarantina ‘forty days’, from quaranta ‘forty’.
Old English gān, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gaan and German gehen; the form went was originally the past tense of wend.