A denominal is a word that has been derived from a noun by adding, mostly, a suffix. The derived word is usually a noun (called denominal noun), an adjective (called denominal adjective), or a verb (called denominal verb). Examples:
Denominal nouns
leader –> leadership, member –> membership, partner –> partnership [-ship]
brother –> brotherhood, child –> childhood, neighbor –> neighborhood [-hood]
hero –> heroism, patriot –> patriotism, tourist –> tourism [-ism]
book –> booklet, pig –> piglet [-let]
duck –> duckling, sap –> sapling [-ling]
Denominal adjectives
color –> colorful, joy –> joyful, peace –> peaceful [-ful]
child –> childish, fool –> foolish [-ish]
danger –> dangerous, mystery –> mysterious [-ous]
memory –> memorable [-able]
health –> healthy, mess –> messy [-y]
art –> artistic, irony –> ironic [-ic]
Denominal verbs
broad –> broaden, dark –> darken, length –> lengthen [-en]
differ –> differentiate, origin –> originate, vaccine –> vaccinate [-ate]
false –> falsify, glory –> glorify, simple –> simplify [-ify]
legal –> legalize, sympathy –> sympathize, theory –> theorize [-ize]
body –> embody, slave –> enslave [-em is prefix here.]
circle –> encircle, large –> enlarge [-en is prefix here.]
In this post, we learnt about denominals. Learn about deverbals, which can lead to nouns, and adjectives.
