Subtenita tra elĉerpiteco

What does the suffix “-ec-” mean in Esperanto?

Recording a video despite feeling drained, this creator names the state directly: “Mi estas plenplene elĉerpita” — “I’m completely exhausted” — and titles the whole video around the noun, elĉerpiteco, “exhaustion.” -ec- is what makes that noun possible: added to an adjective, it names the abstract quality itself, not the thing that has it.

The same pattern gives Esperanto riĉa (rich) → riĉeco (wealth) and bela (beautiful) → beleco (beauty). Elĉerpita itself stacks two more pieces onto the root ĉerpi (“to scoop, to draw out,” as from a well) — el- (“out”) plus the passive participle -it- — before -ec- turns the whole adjective into a noun.