suffixoidn.
/ˈsʌfɪksɔɪd/ Grammar.
A word-final element which has the same form as a suffix (and with which it may seem to share other features), but which cannot be analysed as one morphologically.
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suffixoid1966
1966 Y. Malkiel in T. A. Sebeok Current Trends in Linguistics III. 323 Recourse will be had to the term suffixoid to designate word-final sound sequences resembling genuine suffixes without qualifying for that rank, ie. reminiscent of badger, hammer.
1968 Language 44 579 There are cogent observations about the role of ‘suffixoids’ such as the -er of hammer as selectional factors favoring the development of homophonous derivational affixes.
1973 V. Adams Introd. Mod. Eng. Word-Formation xiii. 173 The ending of this word [= shyster] is a ‘suffixoid’ rather than a real suffix.
1975 Language 51 969 In addition to straight suffixes, he might have mentioned characteristic final word-segments (suffixoids = the ‘primary suffixes’ of L. Bloomfield 1933 and the Sanskrit grammarians).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1993; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1966