Suckerlike

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the form or characteristics of a sucker, such as the clinging organ on an octopus or the shoot of a plant
2. Resembling a sucker in shape or function, able to cling to a surface by suction
3. Shaped like or behaving as a sucker, adhering to something through a suction-like grip

Etymology: "Suckerlike" is a plain compound: "sucker" with the suffix "-like" added. The suffix comes from the Old English "gelīc", meaning "having the same form or appearance," which over the centuries became a productive ending for forming adjectives that mean "resembling" or "characteristic of" whatever precedes it. Attaching it to "sucker" yields a description of something that behaves like a sucker. The base word carries the real interest. A "sucker" in the sense of a suction organ, such as the sucking disc on an octopus or the adhesive pad on a leech, is one of its older senses, and it is this physical sense that "suckerlike" draws on. The adjective therefore describes anything that grips a surface by creating a vacuum, from the arms of a cephalopod to the feet of certain insects and frogs.