Suffix · forms adjectives
carrying a heavy load of; burdened or weighed down with
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
-laden forms compound adjectives meaning "heavily loaded with" or "burdened by." It creates a vivid image of weight — both physical and metaphorical. Snow-laden branches sag; guilt-laden characters carry invisible burdens. The suffix is especially common in literary fiction, journalism, and poetry where one word needs to convey both what weighs and how it weighs.
-laden
Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
"Laden" already expresses "full of" or "burdened with," so the thing being carried is the base of the compound, not a prepositional phrase. Say "grief-laden" not "laden of grief." The structure is always BASE + laden, never laden + preposition + noun.
"Happiness-laden" or "joy-laden" exist but are unusual and can sound ironic. The word carries an inherent sense of weight and effort. For positive qualities, compounds like "joy-filled" or "hope-filled" are more natural.
A trick to remember it
-laden creates immediate physical and emotional imagery. When you describe a character or situation as "guilt-laden" or "trouble-laden," readers feel the weight instantly. This suffix is far more evocative than saying "full of" or "burdened with" — it compresses a whole description into a single modifier. Writers use it to characterize situations, environments, or emotional states with economy and precision.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
Which sentence uses -laden most effectively?
Exercise 3 · Form the word
The suffix -laden carrying a heavy load of; burdened or weighed down with In Spanish it usually maps to cargado de / lleno de.
"snow" becomes "snow-laden". It is a typical example of the -laden suffix.
From the past participle of "bind": forms adjectives meaning "confined by," "heading toward," or "obligated by." Spellbound, earthbound, homebound, hidebound, snowbound, inbound.
Forms adjectives describing something persistently dominated or plagued by something negative: guilt-ridden, debt-ridden, crime-ridden, anxiety-ridden, corruption-ridden.
Forms adjectives describing someone or something severely affected by an emotion, condition, or calamity: poverty-stricken, grief-stricken, panic-stricken, awe-stricken, drought-stricken.
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