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78 entries found.

before vowels kary-, word-forming element used since c. 1874 in biological terms referring to cell nuclei, from Greek karyon "nut, kernel," possibly from PIE root *kar- "hard," but Beekes leans toward the notion that it is a Pre-Greek word.

-machy

word-forming element meaning "battle, war, contest, fighting, warfare," from Latinized form of Greek -makhia, from makhē "a battle, fight," related to makhesthai "to fight." Beekes suspects it is from an isolated root, perhaps Pre-Greek: "In the domain of fighting and battle, old inherited expressions can hardly be expected."

-path

word-forming element used in modern formations to mean "one suffering from" (a disease or condition), from Greek pathos "suffering" (from PIE root *kwent(h)- "to suffer"). Also "one versed in" (a certain type of treatment), in which cases it is a back-formation from -pathy in the related sense.

-tion

syllable formed when the word-forming element -ion (from Latin -io) is fixed to a base or to another suffix ending in -t or -te. In Middle English, in words via Old French, it often was -cion (in coercion and suspicion, however, the -c- belongs to the base).

-gate

suffix attached to any word to indicate "scandal involving," 1973, abstracted from Watergate, the Washington, D.C., building complex that was home of the National Headquarters of the Democratic Party when it was burglarized June 17, 1972, by operatives later found to be working for the staff and re-election campaign of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

-logue

word-forming element meaning "one who is immersed in or driven by," mostly from French-derived words, ultimately from Greek -logos, -logon (see -logy). Now mostly superseded by -loger, -logist except in ideologue and a few others. As a combining element meaning "kind of discourse," it is from French -logue, from Greek -logos.

-ive

word-forming element making adjectives from verbs, meaning "pertaining to, tending to; doing, serving to do," in some cases from Old French -if, but usually directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ivus (source also of Italian and Spanish -ivo). In some words borrowed from French at an early date it has been reduced to -y (as in hasty, tardy).

-let

diminutive noun-forming element, Middle English, from Old French -elet, which often is a double-diminutive. It consists of Old French diminutive -et, -ette (see -et) added to nouns in -el, which in many cases represents Latin diminutive -ellus; see -el (2)). "The formation did not become common until the 18th c." [OED].

-ent

word-forming element making adjectives from nouns or verbs, from French -ent and directly from Latin -entem (nominative -ens), present-participle ending of verbs in -ere/-ire. Old French changed it in many words to -ant, but after c. 1500 some of these in English were changed back to what was supposed to be correct Latin. See -ant.

-ing (2)

suffix used to form the present participles of verbs and the adjectives derived from them, from Old English present-participle suffix -ende, from PIE *-nt- (cognates: German -end, Gothic -and, Sanskrit -ant, Greek -on, Latin -ans, -ens). The vowel weakened in late Old English and the spelling with -g began 13c.-14c. among Anglo-Norman scribes who naturally confused it with -ing (1).

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