后缀-age与名词age毫无关系。这是一个由古法语引进的拉丁名词后缀。在现代英语中，-age主要作为派生后缀。这时，它有两种功能：1)加在动词后面构成抽象名词，意为the act or result of ~ing，即表示该行为或行为的结果；2)加在名词后面，基本意思为a group of或a place for〜s，即表示该事物的群体或与该事物有关的场所等；有时意为the condition of〜，即表示事物的状况。由-age构成的原生名词为数不多，都是加在名词性拉丁词根上。

先举动词与-age相结合的例子。

breakage [break v. 打破；-age→]n. ① the act of breaking 破损，损坏/The breakage of the girder was due to a fault in the steel. 大梁断裂是因为钢材有毛病。②the amount caused by breaking 破损量 / The breakage of the goods is more than 5 percent. 货物的破损量超过百分之五。

marriage [ marri ( ←marry) v. 与…结婚；-age→] n . the act or fact of living together as husband and wife 结婚；结婚生活, We wish the bride and groom a happy marriage.我们祝愿新郎新娘婚后活幸福。

postage [post v. 邮寄；-age→] n. the cost of posting 邮资，邮费 / The postage for airmail is greater than that for regular mail. 航邮的邮资比平邮的高。