-age

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English -age,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman -age and Old French -age, and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin -agium, which comes from the French form.^[4][3][5][6] The French suffix is from Late Latin -āticum,^[4][7][8][9] the neuter of the adjective suffix Latin -āticus, the source of -atic.^[4][6][9] Etymonline analyses that as Proto-Indo-European *-at- and *-(i)ko-, the latter being the source of -ic.^[8] It is cognate with Italian -aggio, Spanish -aje and Portuguese -agem.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The suffix appears in borrowings from French and Latin early in the Middle English period, in heritage, pottage and savage, and in the Latin formation on an English base that became hidage.^[4] In Latin the neuter noun meant something belonging or related to the base, as viāticum (“provision for a journey”) does.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

French gave English models for each pattern: things belonging together (baggage, foliage), a status or office (bondage, parsonage), an action (marriage, passage) and a charge or toll (murage, pontage).^[4] Formations within English start in late Middle English, though in many early cases it is unclear whether English, Anglo-Norman or Latin came first.^[4] The suffix was especially frequent in early modern English.^[4] It has remained productive, and recent words range from the stylistically marked riffage to the everyday signage.^[4] The ending of savage is not this noun suffix, but continues the adjective -āticus itself.^[4]

Timeline

• early Middle English – in borrowings such as heritage and pottage.^[4]
• late Middle English – first formations in English: peerage, mockage.^[4]
• early modern English – especially frequent.^[4]
• recent – riffage, tuneage, signage.^[4]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming nouns for a collection or set of things: wordage, trackage.^[3][7][4]
2. Forming nouns for an action, its process or result: haulage, breakage, shrinkage.^[3][7][4]
3. Forming nouns for a state, rank or relationship: bondage, parentage.^[3][7][4]
4. Forming nouns for a house or place: orphanage, parsonage.^[3][7]
5. Forming nouns for a charge or fee: postage, wharfage.^[3][7][4]
6. Forming nouns for a rate: dosage, mileage.^[3][7]

Word family

• baggage
• language
• marriage
• passage
• postage
• village

Related words

• -atic
• -ment

Usage notes

It is normally the unstressed /-ɪdʒ/, but in words of French origin often /-ɑːʒ/, which may take stress.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press