-fy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English -fien,^[2] borrowed from Old French -fier,^{[3][4][5][2][6]} from Latin -ficō,^[3][4][5][2] from the adjective ending -ficus (“making”), the source of -fic,^[3][2][7][5] from faciō (“to make”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[4] It is related to do.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest English verbs of this kind were adopted from French verbs in -fier.^[6][5] Latin verbs in -ficāre are of three sorts: from nouns, meaning make or convert into (aedificāre, the source of edify); from adjectives, meaning bring into a state (sanctificāre, the source of sanctify); and causative, from verbs (horrificāre, the source of horrify).^[6][3][8]

Semantic evolution

Post-classical Latin tended to replace -faciō with -ficāre, so English and French verbs in -fy sometimes answer to Latin ones in -facere, as in liquefy, satisfy and stupefy.^[3][6] Apart from these, the ending normally has the form -ify, with an -i- that was at first a stem vowel and later a connective.^[3][5] That form was generalized for new words, such as codify and indemnify.^[6] It was used especially for trivial or jocular coinages, such as speechify and countrify.^[6][8] Related nouns normally end in -ification, and those for verbs from -facere in -faction.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1536 – terrify.^[3]
• 1609 – simplify.^[3]
• 17th century – indemnify.^[6]
• 1723 – speechify.^[3]
• 18th century – codify.^[6]
• 1850 – countrify.^[3]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming verbs that mean make, or form into something: beautify, simplify, dandify.^[7][2][5]
2. Forming verbs that mean become: solidify, liquefy.^[7][5]
3. Forming verbs that mean give the attributes of something, or make similar to it: citify, Frenchify.^[2][8]
4. Forming verbs with a causative sense: horrify, stupefy.^[8][5]

Word family

• certify
• classify
• justify
• modify
• qualify
• satisfy

Related words

• -ify
• -fic
• -fication
• -faction
• do

Usage notes

By a confusion of suffixes, English has petrifaction where French more correctly has pétrification.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press