Suffix: ée

　　Type of suffix: nominal, verbal

　　Gender of words with suffix: usually feminine

　　The French suffix ée can be added to nouns or verbs to make new nouns and has a number of possible meanings.

　　1. A ___ful of something

　　une bouchée - mouthful

　　(from une bouche - mouth)

　　une cuillerée - spoonful

　　(from une cuillère - spoon)

　　une poignée - handful, fistful

　　(from un poing - fist)

　　2. Group or collective

　　la feuillée (archaic) - foliage

　　(from la feuille - leaf)

　　une maisonnée - household, family

　　(from une maison - house)

　　3. Purpose or result of an action

　　une couvée - brood, clutch

　　(from couver - to hatch)

　　une donnée - datum, piece of information

　　(from donner - to give)

　　la poussée - pressure, pushing, thrust

　　(from pousser - to push)

　　4. Location

　　une allée - avenue, walk, path

　　(from aller - to go)

　　une entrée - entrance

　　(from entrer - to enter)

　　5. Period of time (learn more)

　　une année - year

　　(from un an)

　　une journée - day

　　(from un jour)

　　6. Plant name

　　une cactée, une cactacée - cactus

　　une centaurée - centaury

　　une giroflée - wallflower

　　Note that the French suffix -ée is also the feminine singular form of the past participle of -er verbs:

　　Elle est allée à l'école - She went to school.

　　Elle est très respectée - She is well respected.

　　Spelling notes:

　　When the suffix -ée is added to a verb, the infinitive ending is removed first: aller > allée.

　　The final e of a word is dropped before adding the suffix: bouche > bouchée.