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Is there a suffix (or any other construct) that I can use with a base to express that this must (or is meant to) happen? For example, instead of:

This car must be recalled

use:

This car is recall<suffix here>

The closest I've found is that in addition, the terms that are meant be added are called addends. Can this be applied everywhere? Can the example's car be called "recallend"?

Laurel
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5 Answers5

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No, there isn't any general suffix meaning "required to be..." in English that is productive (can be applied to any verb) to make adjectives or nouns.

The words you have come across like addend, dividend (in the meaning of: thing to be divided) come straight from Latin into English. Latin does, or did, have a general way of making "required to be..." adjectives from verbs, called the gerundive. You can see the same -end form in the famous quote: "Carthago delenda est" ("Carthage must be destroyed").

But in English you are stuck with using some kind of phrase (must/required/having to).

Reign of Error
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    Right. We do have the -able/-ible suffix for possibility modals, but nothing morphological dealing with modalities like deontic should or must. – John Lawler Feb 25 '22 at 15:40
  • Gerundive of obligation or passive periphrastic? – livresque Feb 26 '22 at 01:10
  • "You can see the same -end form in the famous quote: "Carthago delenda est". Welcome to EL&U, Cato the Elder! Er, I mean, Reign of Error – bertieb Feb 26 '22 at 18:19
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Similar to John Lawler's "able/-ible suffix for possibility modals" (in a comment to another answer), this comes close to the force of the modal should, but falls short of a requirement or must:

The car is certainly recall-worthy.

-worthy, comb. form

Forming adjectives with the sense ‘deserving of what is specified by the first element’, as BLAMEWORTHY adj., NOTEWORTHY adj., PRAISEWORTHY adj., etc. (OED)


One of the bitter ironies of the sustainability movement is that when society had apparently unlimited energy to build, we didn't have the wits to design for disassembly or reuse, and we were in the grip of the Modernist design fad, which produced more demolition-worthy monster structures than any other era. K Sorvig and J. Thompson; Sustainable Landscape Construction (2018)

The suitcase was definitely trashworthy, covered with scuffs, dents, and dirt. But the zipper worked, which was all Grant cared about. Rob Byrnes; Holy Rollers (2011)

Those who evince these vices impair their relationships whether or not they perform any resentment-worthy actions. Macalester Bell; Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt (2013)

The spotlight on the foreign workers problem faded rapidly. By 1993...several people told me that the topic was passé. ... At the same time, Japanese people became inured to them, and the mass media moved to newer and more copyworthy topics. John Lie; Multiethic Japan (2009)

If she still had a job, she could fill the next week's worth of papers with even more headline-worthy stories. Joyce Lamb; True Vision (2010)

To Augustine, hatred of people is simply a sin. Where it is targeted at people, it ultimately backfires: instead of being directed at something hateworthy, it is itself hateworthy. T. Szanto and H. Landweer; The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Emotion (2020)

DjinTonic
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  • Hmm. Perhaps resale worthy. But not recall worthy. – Lambie Feb 25 '22 at 21:32
  • Hmm. There is a book Worthy of Recall Don't confuse this definition with "Forming adjectives with the sense ‘in a suitable condition for use in the environment specified by the first element’" (OED) – DjinTonic Feb 25 '22 at 21:36
  • Yes, but that means something different. That means: the stuff in the book is worth remembering. One doesn't say that a product one buys such as a car is worthy of recall. recalled products and recalling people or situations are not the same. – Lambie Feb 25 '22 at 21:38
  • pivotable recall? ("To depend or be centered") - if it's pivotable then we cannot proceed until it's done. Your car's recall is pivotal to us continuing to provide your insurance. Non-compliance with manufacturer's recommendations will result in cancellation of coverage. – Mazura Feb 25 '22 at 21:42
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A common device in English to perform a similar role as the gerundive, is to deny the alternative possibility.

So for example, a film that should be viewed is "unmissable".

A car that needs repairs is "undriveable" - or at least, "unreliable", and quite possibly, "unroadworthy" (drawing on DjinTonic's answer about the -worthy suffix).

From the perspective of a manufacturer's staff talking, to say a car "must be recalled" would be strongly implied by saying they are "unroadworthy".

Steve
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To-Be-Recalled. That's what I would use and it sounds natural, though it's not a suffix.

Dor1000
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You say a suffix 'or any other construct'. Well, it's not a suffix but you could (I wouldn't go as far as to say should!) say it's a 'must-recall'. We have 'must-have', after all.

tardy pigeon
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