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): /zaːm/ (standard)
- IPA(key): /zam/ (regional; including western Germany)
-sam
- 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”)
- 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.