–weg attaches mainly to adjectives, which are usually underived and belong to the native stratum of Dutch. It denotes the manner specified by the base adjective. A few lexicalized complex adjectives also occur with this suffix, for example eenvoudigsimple > eenvoudigwegsimply, gaandegoing > gaandeweggradually. -weg can also be attached to some adverbs, as in droogjesdrily > droogjeswegdrily, losjesloosely > losjeswegloosely. The use of –weg often conveys a subjective evaluation on the part of the speaker.

The suffix corresponds with the noun wegway, but it has developed into a bound morpheme with a specific meaning when used as part of an adverb. Hence it is to be considered a suffix from a synchronic point of view. Its history is reflected in the fact that it forms a prosodic word of its own. It usually carries secondary stress, as in domweg/ˈdɔmˌʋɛɣ/simply. However, speakers may differ in their stress preferences for -weg-derivations, especially those with polysyllabic bases.

Adverbs with -weg do not appear as input to further derivations.

For more information, see Diepeveen (2012, chapter 17,online version).