Suffix · forms adjectives
lasting or extending for the entire duration of a specified period
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
-long creates compound adjectives or adverbs meaning "lasting the full extent of a time period." Lifelong, daylong, yearlong, nightlong — each expresses that something spans the entirety of the named time. The pattern is regularly productive with units of time and with "life" as a special case meaning "for the duration of one's entire life." It adds precision and sometimes melancholy to descriptions of duration.
-long
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"Lifelong" is always an adjective preceding a noun: a lifelong dream, a lifelong friend. "Lifetime" can be a noun ("in my lifetime") or a modifier ("a lifetime supply"). You cannot say "a lifetime dream" or "a lifelong supply" — the usage is different for each word.
With smaller time units (hour, minute), hyphenation is more common: hour-long, two-hour-long. With larger units, both solid and hyphenated forms exist: daylong / day-long, yearlong / year-long. "Lifelong" is almost always written as one solid word.
A trick to remember it
-long compounds are remarkably efficient. Instead of "a friendship that lasted their entire lives," you write "a lifelong friendship." Instead of "negotiations that took the whole day," you write "daylong negotiations." This compression is especially powerful in journalism and narrative writing where economy of expression matters. Notice that "lifelong" tends to appear with positive or deeply meaningful things: a lifelong dream, a lifelong passion, a lifelong mission.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"A yearlong investigation uncovered widespread fraud." What does "yearlong" tell us?
Exercise 3 · Form the word
The suffix -long lasting or extending for the entire duration of a specified period In Spanish it usually maps to de toda una / durante todo un.
"life" becomes "lifelong". It is a typical example of the -long suffix.
Forms compounds naming periods, moments, or eras with a distinct identity: lifetime, peacetime, wartime, pastime, overtime, daytime, nighttime, bedtime.
From Old English "-weard" (direction): forms adverbs and adjectives of direction or tendency. Inward, outward, forward, wayward, awkward.
Forms adjectives and adverbs meaning "extending throughout, covering the whole of": nationwide, worldwide, citywide, statewide, industry-wide.
-tion, -ness, -ful, -ly, -able... every ending you need to understand thousands of words at once.