Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-or2 Also -our.

Forming nouns denoting an abstract state or condition.

[From Latin, sometimes via Old French -or, -ur.]

Examples are error, horror, pallor, stupor, terror, and tremor. Many of these were once spelled -our and this spelling persists in some examples in British English (behaviour, colour, fervour, honour, valour, vigour), which—in part as a result of spelling reforms advocated by Noah Webster—are now spelled -or in the US: behavior, color, fervor, etc.

Some words in British English that are spelled -our lose the u when forming derivatives (clamorous, coloration, glamorize), but others keep it (behaviourist, honourable).

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