Is there a suffix meaning "art of" in Greek?

Short answer

The suffix you are looking for is ”-logy” (sort of).

Long answer

Leaving all of the messy realities of natural language aside, the suffix ”-ic” means “related to, pertaining to, or in the manner of” and ”-ics” is used for words that refer to activities, practices, or fields of knowledge related to or pertaining to their root. So “economic” means “relating to the economy,” and “economics” is the field of knowledge pertaining to economies.

It is therefore not always easy to distinguish ”-ics” from ”-logy,” which means “study of” (and thus is also used to refer to fields of knowledge). But ”-logy” is arguably broader in scope simply due to the fact that its Greek root (logos) is itself very broad. It is so broad, in fact, that while ”-logy” is often translated as “study of” or even “science of,” it is also the suffix used in words like “trilogy” (since one of the many meanings of logos is “narrative”).

So what does this all mean for you? Well, it turns out that ”-logy” is also used as a suffix in words that mean “the art of ______,” such as “cosmetology” (the art of applying cosmetics) or “campanology” (the art of bell ringing). There is some ambiguity here: cosmetology is a field of study as much as it is an art, and campanology involves much more having to do with bells than just the ringing of them. But it remains the case that ”-logy” is used for “the art of” in addition to being used for “the study of.”

^^ I’ll second that. :-)

And I’m very happy to trust these two sources. Thanks!

Just to emphasize the difficulty of distinguishing between ”-ic” and ”-logy,” the word “rhetoric” means “the art of discourse.” So there are going to be times when your original idea holds up and ”-ic” is used instead of ”-logy.” Then there’s “oratory,” the art of public speaking, which actually gets its meaning by association rather than derivation.

“Oratory” should be either what an orator does or where he does it—compare words like “predatory” or “dormitory”—and strictly speaking, it is. Any public speech could be properly referred to as “oratory.” But professional orators had such a reputation that “oratory” became the word for good public speaking as well as ordinary public speaking.

This is what we get for speaking a language that beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

@SavoirFaire “Rhetoric” is a term I remember thinking about. I think you found the source of my misinformation!

I think ”-graphy” would also be a good suffix to use.

E.g., cartography,, choreography, and photography.

@Brian1946 But the suffix “graphy” refers specifically to written activities in derivation.