: Re: Suffixing words with -ness, -ish, -like, and others Background In a huge amount of the books I read the author has coined a little term to help them describe something, or an onomatopoeia. Like:

@Carla500

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The extent to which you can do this varies depending on your audience, but generally, I wouldn't do it with a thoroughly unknown word. Tonitrus is an excellent example. Great word, means what you need it to mean, but in itself it's already so rare that your readers will have to look it up. If you are then coining an adjective on top of it, you're going to lose people entirely, because you can't look that one up. So yes, create new words, but base them on familiar stems.

Keeping that in mind, I wouldn't overdo it in any one story, but go ahead and use it when you think it works. As long as your base word is understandable, make your new adjectives where necessary. Just check with your beta readers to make sure you're not too heavy-handed.

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