-ment

The suffix '-ment' is a productive noun-forming suffix in English, primarily attaching to verbs to f‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍orm abstract nouns denoting an action, a state resulting from an action, or (less commonly) the means or instrument of an action. 'Develop' becomes 'development'; 'move' becomes 'movement'; 'govern' becomes 'government'; 'argue' becomes 'argument'; 'amaze' becomes 'amazement.'

The suffix descends from Old French '-ment,' itself from Latin '-mentum,' a suffix that attached to verbal stems to form nouns denoting an instrument, means, or result of an action. Latin 'ornare' (to adorn) plus '-mentum' gave 'ornāmentum' (means of adornment — whence 'ornament'); 'monere' (to warn) plus '-mentum' gave 'monumentum' (reminder — whence 'monument'); 'documentum' (means of teaching — whence 'document'); 'fragmentum' (a broken piece — whence 'fragment'); 'frūmentum' (nourishment, grain); 'argumentum' (means of clarifying — whence 'argument'). The Latin suffix often carried an instrumental nuance ('the means by which'), though abstract and resultative meanings were common too.

Latin '-mentum' itself descends from a Proto-Indo-European compound suffix *-men- + *-to-, combining the abstract-noun suffix *-men- (visible in Greek '-ma' / '-mat-' as in 'drama,' 'theorem,' 'poem,' 'schema') and the participial/resultative suffix *-to- (visible in many PIE past participles). The *-men- part is cognate with Sanskrit '-man-' (as in 'nāman,' name). This makes Greek '-ma' and Latin '-ment' etymological cousins: both are descendants of *-men-, but Greek stopped there while Latin compounded it with *-to-.

In Old French, Latin '-mentum' was regularly reduced to '-ment' with the same general sense: an action, state, or result of a verb. French coined many '-ment' nouns from French verbs: 'commencement' (beginning), 'movement' (moving), 'agreement' (agreeing), 'parliament' (speaking — from 'parler'), 'accomplishment' (completing), 'arrangement,' 'establishment.'

In Middle English (c. 1200–1500), '-ment' arrived in hundreds of French borrowings: 'achievement,' 'adjustment,' 'advancement,' 'agreement,' 'amazement' (later), 'amendment,' 'apartment' (later), 'appointment,' 'argument,' 'arrangement,' 'assessment,' 'attachment,' 'basement' (later), 'commandment,' 'commencement,' 'commitment,' 'compartment,' 'complement,' 'compliment,' 'condiment,' 'consignment,' 'contentment,' 'department,' 'deployment,' 'development,' 'disappointment,' 'document,' 'element,' 'employment,' 'enactment,' 'encouragement,' 'engagement,' 'enjoyment,' 'enlightenment,' 'enrichment,' 'enrollment,' 'entanglement,' 'entertainment,' 'environment,' 'equipment,' 'establishment,' 'experiment,' 'fulfilment,' 'garment,' 'government,' 'harassment,' 'improvement,' 'incitement,' 'inducement,' 'investment,' 'involvement,' 'judgement,' 'management,' 'measurement,' 'moment,' 'monument,' 'movement,' 'ointment,' 'ornament,' 'parchment,' 'parliament,' 'payment,' 'placement,' 'predicament,' 'presentiment,' 'punishment,' 'refreshment,' 'reinforcement,' 'replacement,' 'requirement,' 'resentment,' 'retirement,' 'sediment,' 'sentiment,' 'settlement,' 'shipment,' 'statement,' 'supplement,' 'testament,' 'torment,' 'tournament,' 'treatment.' Most of these arrived as whole words from French, not as verb + suffix constructions within English.

From the sixteenth century onward, '-ment' became productive enough to attach to English verbs, including some native Germanic ones: 'acknowledgement,' 'amazement,' 'atonement,' 'bafflement,' 'bewilderment,' 'embodiment,' 'embattlement,' 'embarrassment,' 'engagement,' 'enjoyment,' 'entrapment,' 'fulfilment,' 'merriment,' 'settlement,' 'startlement,' 'wonderment.' In these formations, '-ment' attaches to a verb of English or mixed origin and produces a noun of Germanic-feeling abstract nature.

Despite this productivity, '-ment' has always been less prolific in English than the alternatives '-tion' and '-ing.' New coinages with '-ment' are relatively rare in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries compared to the flood of new '-tion' nouns (e.g., 'globalisation,' 'digitisation') and '-ing' nouns (e.g., 'crowdsourcing,' 'downsizing'). This gives '-ment' a somewhat literary or established feel; new nonce coinages are usually humorous or deliberately old-fashioned ('befuddlement,' 'harrumphment').

Phonologically, '-ment' is pronounced /mənt/ in most English dialects, with the '-e-' reduced to a schwa. Stress generally falls on the syllable before '-ment' rather than on the suffix itself: ex'cite-ment, em'ploy-ment, en'joy-ment. This is the same pattern as in French, from which English inherited both the spelling and the stress rule.

In British English, several '-ment' nouns retain an older spelling with '-e-' before '-ment': 'acknowledgement,' 'judgement,' 'abridgement.' American English tends to drop this '-e-': 'acknowledgment,' 'judgment,' 'abridgment.' Both spellings are valid and reflect historical preference.

A small but interesting subset of '-ment' nouns retain the original Latin instrumental or material sense: 'document' (a means of teaching), 'monument' (a means of reminding), 'ornament' (a means of adorning), 'vestment' (a means of clothing), 'armament' (a means of arming), 'fragment' (a piece broken off). These are Latin-derived words where '-mentum' meant 'the thing that does' or 'the thing made.' Modern productive '-ment' generally denotes the action or state, not the instrument or thing.

An important related suffix is '-ment' at the end of some adjectives, which is a different morpheme: '-ment' in 'vehement' or 'truculent' (Latin '-entem,' present participle) is not the same suffix as in 'movement.' This parallel spelling is a coincidence from Latin orthography.

Related suffixes for nominalising verbs in English include '-tion' (Latinate, action / result), '-ing' (native, gerund), '-al' ('arrival,' 'denial,' 'refusal' — from Latin '-alis' via French), '-ance' / '-ence' ('performance,' 'existence' — from Latin '-antia' / '-entia'), and '-ure' ('departure,' 'failure' — from Latin '-ura'). '-ment' competes with these and is usually chosen when the verb ends in certain consonants that phonologically suit '-ment' better ('develop > development' rather than '*develoption' or '*developance').

Representative '-ment' nouns include: achievement, acknowledgement, adjustment, advancement, agreement, amazement, amendment, announcement, apartment, appointment, argument, arrangement, assessment, assignment, astonishment, attachment, attainment, attachment, atonement, bafflement, basement, bereavement, betterment, bewilderment, commandment, commencement, commitment, compartment, complement, compliment, condiment, consignment, contentment, curtailment, department, deployment, detachment, detriment, development, disagreement, disappointment, discernment, disenchantment, disfigurement, document, element, embarrassment, embellishment, embodiment, employment, enactment, encouragement, encroachment, endorsement, engagement, enjoyment, enlightenment, enrichment, enrolment, entanglement, entertainment, entitlement, environment, equipment, establishment, excitement, experiment, fragment, fulfilment, garment, government, harassment, impediment, imprisonment, improvement, incitement, inducement, instalment, instrument, intoxication (-tion), investment, involvement, judgement, management, measurement, misjudgement, moment, monument, movement, nourishment, ointment, ornament, parchment, parliament, payment, placement, postponement, predicament, presentiment, procurement, punishment, puzzlement, recruitment, refinement, refreshment, reinforcement, replacement, replenishment, requirement, resentment, retirement, sacrament, sediment, sentiment, settlement, shipment, statement, supplement, testament, torment, tournament, treatment, wonderment.