Semantic Features of English Words With the Suffix -ish

Vocabulary is the most changeable part of any language in a particular language system. Words are closely related to all aspects of society that are in constant development. Changes in the vocabulary of a language also depend on various factors and one of them is word formation. The word-building of each language is characterized by certain features. It is important to note that when working on the problems of word formation in the English language, it is necessary to study the word-forming elements, in particular, the analysis of individual suffixes and their semantic characteristics. The purpose of the present paper is to characterize one of the word-building elements, namely the multi-functional and homonymous suffix -ish of German origin, its formal-functional and semantic characterization as well as to determine its productivity. The methods of descriptive, morphological, etymological and semantic analysis have been applied in the research process.