-sam

From Middle High German -sam, from Old High German -sam, from Proto-West Germanic *-sam, from Proto-Germanic *-samaz, from Proto-Germanic *samaz, from Proto-Indo-European *somHós. Cognate with English -some and Dutch -zaam. Related also to Old High German samo (“the same”) and sama (“similary”).

• IPA^(key): /za(ː)m/, [zaːm], [zam], (chiefly southern also) [s-]
  • The prescriptive standard has a long vowel, but in practice both forms are common and widely unmarked.
  • Apart from southerners with a generally devoiced /z/, some speakers devoice it when -sam follows obstruents, e.g. in wirksam. (Compare the suffix -sen, where this is the rule.)

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-sam

1. Used to form adjectives from verbs, nouns, and other adjectives; expressing similarity or the possession of a quality.

   ‎Tugend (“virtue”) + ‎-sam → ‎tugendsam (“of virtue, virtuous”)

   ‎aufmerken (“to observe”) + ‎-sam → ‎aufmerksam (“observant, attentive”)

   ‎lang (“long, lengthy”) + ‎-sam → ‎langsam (“slow”)

2. Used to form adjectives from verbs; expressing the ability to undergo some action.

   Synonyms: -bar, -abel

   ‎biegen (“to bend”) + ‎-sam → ‎biegsam (“flexible, bendable”)

• The suffix is now of very limited productivity at most.

-sam

1. accusative feminine singular of -sus

From Old Norse -samr.

-sam

1. used to form adjectives

• “-sam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): [saβ̃]

-sam

1. alternative form of -som

From Old Norse -samr, from Proto-Germanic *-samaz, a suffix form of *samaz (“same”).

-sam

1. -some; creating adjectives, mostly out of nouns

• -lig
• sam-

• -sam in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

• mas