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55 entries found.

word-forming element of French origin, "one who has a mania for," ultimately from Greek -manes "ardent admirer," related to mania "madness" (see mania).

-i (2)

plural suffix sometimes preserved in English for words from Latin, it is the Latin plural of nouns of the second declension (such as focus/foci, radius/radii).

-meter

word-forming element meaning "device or instrument for measuring;" commonly -ometer, occasionally -imeter; from French -mètre, from Greek metron "a measure," from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure."

-oon

spelling conventional in 15c.-17c. English to add emphasis to borrowed French nouns ending in stressed -on; also used to represent Italian -one, Spanish -ón; all from Latin -onem. Compare shalloon (1670s) for French chalon, a kind of material used for linings. The ending is used occasionally to form words in English, such as spittoon, quadroon, and some older ones no longer with us, such as shabberoon "disreputable person" (c. 1700).

-athon

also -thon, word-forming element denoting prolonged activity and usually some measure of endurance, abstracted from marathon; for example walkathon (1931), skatathon (1933); talkathon (1948); telethon (1949).

-theism

word-forming element meaning "belief (of a specified kind) in God, a god, or gods," from Greek theos "god" (from PIE root *dhes-, forming words for religious concepts) + -ism.

-ery

word-forming element making nouns meaning "place for, art of, condition of, quantity of," from Middle English -erie, from Latin -arius (see -ary). Also sometimes in modern colloquial use "the collectivity of" or "an example of."

-xion

ending favored in British English for certain words that in U.S. typically end in -ction, such as connexion, complexion, inflexion, as being more true to the Latin rules.

-try

extended form of -ry sometimes used in forming modern abstract nouns, often for humorous effect, based on the many -try words where the -t- is part of the Latin stem (geometry, idolatry, industry, pedantry, etc.).

electro-

before vowels electr-, word-forming element meaning "electrical, electricity," Latinized form of Greek ēlektro-, combining form of ēlektron "amber" (see electric). As a stand-alone, formerly often short for electrotype, electroplate.

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