-ig

Partly Borrowed from Low German -ig, which in Danish has displaced the native suffix Old Danish -ugh; is no longer productive.

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns

• “-ig” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch -ich, from Old Dutch -ag, -ig, from Proto-West Germanic *-g, from Proto-Germanic *-agaz, *-īgaz, *-ugaz, each a variant of a common suffix *-gaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-kos.

• IPA^(key): /əx/, /ɪx/

• Audio:

  (file)

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns

   Synonyms: -achtig, -erig

2. -ed, having (when attached to a noun preceded by an adjective that describes the noun)

   roodharig ― red-haired

   dikhuidig ― thick-skinned

   tweebenig ― two-legged

Declension of -ig
uninflected	-ig
inflected	-ige
comparative	-iger
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		-ig	-iger	het -igst het -igste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	-ige	-igere	-igste
	n. sing.	-ig	-iger	-igste
	plural	-ige	-igere	-igste
definite		-ige	-igere	-igste
partitive		-igs	-igers	—

From Middle High German -ec, -ic, from Old High German -ig, from Proto-West Germanic *-g, from Proto-Germanic *-gaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-kos.

• IPA^(key): /ɪç/ (Germany; less common in southern regiolects)
• IPA^(key): /ɪk/, /ɪɡ̊/, /iɡ̊/ (most common form in southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)
• IPA^(key): /ɪɕ/, /ɪʃ/ (all central German dialects)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

-ig

1. -y, -eous; forms adjectives from nouns

   ‎Sonne (“sun”) + ‎-ig → ‎sonnig (“sunny”)

   ‎Berg (“mountain”) + ‎-ig → ‎bergig (“mountainous”)

2. forms adjectives from verbs

   ‎zittern (“to shiver, to tremble”) + ‎-ig → ‎zittrig (“shaky, trembling”)

   ‎abhängen (“to depend”) + ‎-ig → ‎abhängig (“dependent, addicted”)

3. forms adjectives from adverbs

   ‎heute (“today”) + ‎-ig → ‎heutig (“today's, of today”)

   ‎damals (“back then, at the time”) + ‎-ig → ‎damalig (“former, then”)

Note: There are also contracted forms like -'ger.

-ig

1. (Switzerland, colloquial) variation of -ung

• -lich
• -isch

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): [iɡ]
• Rhymes: -iɡ

-ig (terminative case suffix)

1. (of place) to, up to

   Az állomásig busszal mentünk, de onnan hazáig már gyalog. ― We traveled by bus to the station but from there to home we walked.

2. (of time) until, till

   Ötig dolgozom. ― I work until five o'clock.

3. for a specified length of time

   A levél olyan hosszú volt, hogy tíz percig olvastam. ― The letter was so long that I was reading it for 10 minutes.

• It has no harmonic variants. It is used by both back-vowel and front-vowel words.
• The above two senses may be ambiguous when hour or o'clock is mentioned, as in this sentence:

  Két óráig maradunk. ― We'll stay for two hours OR We'll stay until 2 o'clock.

To avoid this ambiguity, the accusative case may be employed when referring to the duration (Két órát maradunk), and the sentence may be rephrased when referring to the end point (Két óra múlva indulunk – We're leaving in two hours.)

• (until): With pointlike events or places the meaning is usually clear. However, it is ambiguous when the given event itself lasts for some time or the given object is such that it matters whether it is included, excluded or partially included.

  Szerdáig van időd. ― You have time until Wednesday.

  • With exclusion: on Wednesday 00:01 A.M. you are already late (rare, one would probably say keddig; until Tuesday)
  • With partial inclusion: the border line is somewhere during the day (most likely)
  • With full inclusion: you have the full Wednesday (also possible)

• addig, eddig, meddig
• Category:Hungarian terms taking -ig
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

-ig

1. alternative form of -y

From -ugr, Old Norse -igr (“-y”), from *-ugaz, Proto-Germanic *-īgaz (“-y”), from *-gaz (“-y”), from Proto-Indo-European *-kos, *-ḱos (“-y”). Certain words also from Low German -ig (“-y”) or German -ig (“-y”), from Middle High German -ec, -ic, from Old High German -ig, from Proto-West Germanic *-g, from Proto-Germanic *-gaz (“-y”), from Proto-Indo-European *-kos (“-y”).

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “inherited from Old Norse or derived from Middle Low German loanwords?”)

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns

• -ug

-ig

1. A suffix denoting the third person singular to first- or second-person singular form of a transitive animate verb (vta)

From Proto-West Germanic *-ag, -ig. Still distinct in the earliest texts.

• -iċ, -eġ

• IPA^(key): /ij/

-iġ

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns and verbs

• bisiġ
• findiġ

• Middle English: -iȝ, -i, -y, -ich
  • English: -y, -ey, -ie
  • Scots: -ie

From Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī, from Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- (diminutive suffix).

• -g, -ih

• IPA^(key): /iɡ/, [iɣ], /ij/

-ig or -iġ

1. Suffix creating diminutive nouns from other nouns.

   bōsiġ

Masculine

Strong a-stem:

• Middle English: -y
  • Scots: -ie
    • English: -ie, -y

From Proto-West Germanic *-g, from Proto-Germanic *-gaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-kos.

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from i-stem nouns and verbs

• -ag

-ig

1. slender form of -aig

From earlier -ig, -og, from Middle Low German -ich and Old Swedish -ogher, from Old Norse -agr, -ugr, -igr, from Proto-Germanic *-gaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-kos. Cognate with Old English -ig, whence English -y.

Compare -og, avog, avig and -ot.

• IPA^(key): /ɪ(ɡ)/

-ig

1. -y; forms adjectives from nouns and verbs

   ‎is (“ice”) + ‎-ig → ‎isig (“icy”)

   ‎kunna (“be able to, know”) + ‎-ig → ‎kunnig (“knowledgeable”)

3. -ed (when attached to a compound of an adjective and a noun or verb it describes)

   Han är rödhårig

   He is red-haired

• Often pronounced without the final 'g' (/ɪ/).
• In (sense 2), "Han är rödhårad" reads like "He is red-hair'ed," as if someone has done "red hair" to him. The same reading is possible in English, but natural in Swedish.

From Proto-Celtic *-ikos. Cognate with Cornish -ik, Breton -ig, Proto-Germanic *-igaz, Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós), Latin -icus.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɪɡ/

-ig

1. forms adjectives from nouns, -y

   ‎gwenwyn (“poison”) + ‎-ig → ‎gwenwynig (“poisonous”)

   ‎pwys (“weight, pound”) + ‎-ig → ‎pwysig (“important”)

   ‎Gwyddel (“Irish man”) + ‎-ig → ‎Gwyddelig (“Irish”)

2. (chemistry) -ic, Used in chemical nomenclature to name chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a higher oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -us. For example asid nitrig (“nitric acid, HNO₃”) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than asid nitrus (“nitrous acid, HNO₂”).
3. person or object with characteristics of the root word

   ‎lloer (“moon”) + ‎-ig → ‎lloerig (“lunatic”)

   ‎ysgol (“school”) + ‎-ha + ‎-ig → ‎ysgolhaig (“scholar”)

   ‎calan (“first day of the year”) + ‎-ig → ‎calennig (“New Year's gift”)

-edig (“forms adjectives from verbs”)

-ig m or f (plural -igau or -igion or -igiaid, not mutable)

1. diminutive suffix, -let

   ‎afon (“river”) + ‎-ig → ‎afonig (“rivulet”)

   ‎barwn (“baron”) + ‎-ig → ‎barwnig (“baronet”)

   ‎oen (“lamb”) + ‎-ig → ‎oenig (“small ewe lamb”)

Derived terms

Welsh terms suffixed with -ig (diminutive)

afonig

barwnig

oenig

troellig

ydig

ynysig

References

1. ^ Morris Jones, John (1913) A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, Oxford: Clarendon Press, § 153 i 9

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “-ig”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies