-a
a plural ending of nouns borrowed from greek and latin:
phenomena; criteria; data; errata; genera.
-a2
a feminine singular ending of nouns borrowed from latin and greek, also used in neo-latin coinages to latinize bases of any origin, and as a latin subst-tute for the feminine ending – ē of greek words:
anabaena; cinchona; pachysandra.
-a3
an ending of personal names forming feminines from masculines:
georgia; roberta.
-a4
a suffix designating the oxide of the chemical element denoted by the stem:
alumina; ceria; thoria.
origin
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- -a thon
a suffix extracted from marathon, occurring as the final element in compounds which have the general sense “an event, as a sale or contest, drawn out to unusual length, often until a prearranged goal, as the contribution of a certain amount of money, is reached”: walkathon; readathon . also, -a-thon, -thon.
- -ability
a combination of -able and -ity, found on nouns corresponding to adjectives in -able: capability. -ability suffix expressing ability, fitness, or capacity, from l. -abilitas, forming nouns from adjs. ending in -abilis (see -able). not etymologically related to ability, though popularly connected with it.
- -able
a suffix meaning “capable of, susceptible of, fit for, tending to, given to,” -ssociated in meaning with the word able, occurring in loanwords from latin (laudable); used in english as a highly productive suffix to form adjectives by addition to stems of any origin (teachable; photographable). also, -ble, -ible. -able suffix capable of, suitable for, […]
- -ably
a suffix combining -able and -ly that forms adverbs corresponding to adjectives ending in -able: commendably; dependably; tolerably . also, -ibly.
- -ac
variant of -ic after greek noun stems ending in i: cardiac; maniac.