UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Noun Suffix

Noun suffixes are short, meaningful fragments which can be added to the end of nouns in order to modify their meaning. These noun suffixes cannot occur on their own, and must be attached to the end of a noun in order to be used. For example:

-cho ('big')

dehcho

big river

elàcho

big boat

-a ('small')

dıa

small island

bea

pocket knife

-deè ('great; important')

dzędeè

important day

yahtıdeè

bishop

-zǫǫ̀ ('old')

ts’èkozǫǫ̀

old woman

tłı̨zǫǫ̀

old dog

-ch'ıı̀ ('ragged; dirty; unscrupulous')

goht’ǫch’ıı̀

used clothing, ragged clothing

tıch’ıı̀

dirty water; sewage

-jıı ('horrible; rotten')

dǫjıı

horrible person; criminal

Usually, the meaning of a noun with an attached noun suffix is simply a combination of the meaning of the noun and the meaning of the suffix. For example, the meaning of the word elàcho (‘big boat’) is a straightforward combination of elà (‘boat’) and -cho (‘big’). However, sometimes, certain set combinations of nouns and noun suffixes can have meanings that are greater than combined meanings of their individual parts. For example:

tłı̨cho

horse

Tıdeè

Great Slave Lake

Noun suffixes are written in the dictionary with a leading hyphen (i.e. -cho instead of cho); however, when they are written in a sentence, no hyphen is used.