-s-

Etymology
From, from , which survives in many old compounds. In more recent coinage, from contraction of the derived clitic in compounds. For more, see.

Etymology
From.

Usage notes

 * Use of the -s- interfix in Afrikaans is based on patterns in the existing vocabulary. It is frequently used after the -ing, -ie and the -er suffixes. It is seldom used following mass nouns.
 * The -s- is not used when the previous element end on s: poskantoor. It is not used when the next element begins with s: stadspoort, but stadsaal (no interfix).

Usage notes
The usage of fuge-s is phonetically motivated. It is applied on a per-modifier basis, meaning that if the first root generates fuge-s in one compound, it will usually do so in all compounds, even if the second already begins with an s, as in (død + straf) or  (affald + sæk).

Etymology
Common sound-symbolic element, often attached to after a. Probably akin to diminutive suffixes like and.

Usage notes
Generally attached to between a plosive and a following vowel roughly in the middle of any given root.

Usage notes

 * This interfix is used regularly after most derivational suffixes such as, , , , including borrowed ones like , . Otherwise it is used only after a minority of words. Most of these are strong masculine and neuter nouns, but not without exception (cf. above). There are also words that use it in some compounds but not in others, e.g. , ,.

Etymology
From a genitival suffix, ultimately from. Cognates include 🇨🇬 and 🇨🇬.

Etymology
From, from. Many noun phrases with -s later merged into single-word compounds, but the s remained, now serving the function of a joining interfix as opposed to a suffix placed on a single word.

Usage notes

 * In Swedish, this interfix is called the.
 * As a rule of thumb, a compound noun starting with another compound noun gets an -s- (or an or the like), though this only applies to nouns that can take an interfix at all (nouns ending in -are (-er) get shortened to -ar instead, for example). Compare for example bildäck (bil (car) + däck (tire) = car tire) and lastbilsdäck (last (cargo) + bil (car) (= truck) + -s- + däck (tire) = truck tire). Intuitively, the -s- disambiguates cargocar-tire from cargo-cartire. This also extends to longer compound nouns, like lastbilsdäckstryck (truck tire pressure) and lastbilsdäckslufttryck (truck tire air pressure), which get an additional -s- before tryck (pressure) and lufttryck (air pressure), respectively (with the last example meant to illustrate that lufttryck does not turn into "luftstryck," as the word decomposes as lastbil (truck) + däck (tire) + lufttryck (air pressure)). In practice, such long compound nouns would often be rewritten as several words for the sake of readability (for example, "lufttrycket i lastbilsdäcken" (the air pressure in the truck tires)), though they sometimes crop up. Note that this rule of thumb only covers one case. Many other compound nouns also get an -s-.
 * Another rule of thumb is that a compound noun that starts with a noun that ends in -ing (-ing) always gets an -s-. For example, tidning (newspaper) and artikel (article) turns into tidningsartikel.