-an
a suffix occurring originally in adjectives borrowed from latin, formed from nouns denoting places (roman; urban) or persons (augustan), and now productively forming english adjectives by extension of the latin pattern. attached to geographic names, it denotes provenance or membership (american; chicagoan; tibetan), the latter sense now extended to membership in social cl-sses, religious denominations, etc., in adjectives formed from various kinds of noun bases (episcopalian; pedestrian; puritan; republican) and membership in zoological taxa (acanthocephalan; crustacean). attached to personal names, it has the additional senses “contemporary with” (elizabethan; jacobean) or “proponent of” (hegelian; freudian) the person specified by the noun base. the suffix -an, and its variant -ian also occurs in a set of personal nouns, mainly loanwords from french, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works with the referent of the base noun (comedian; grammarian; historian; theologian); this usage is especially productive with nouns ending in -ic, (electrician; logician; technician). see -ian for relative distribution with that suffix.
compare -enne, -ean, -arian, -ician.
-an
suffix
(forming adjectives and nouns) belonging to or relating to; a person belonging to or coming from european
(forming adjectives and nouns) typical of or resembling; a person typical of elizabethan
(forming adjectives and nouns) adhering to or following; an adherent of christian
(forming nouns) a person who specializes or is expert in diet-tian, phonetician
word origin
from latin -ānus, suffix of adjectives
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- -ana
a suffix that forms collective nouns denoting an -ssembly of items, as household objects, art, books, or maps, or a description of such items, as a bibliography, all of which are representative of or -ssociated with the place, person, or period named by the stem: americana; shakespeareana; victoriana. also, -iana. -ana suffix denoting a collection […]
- -ance
a suffix used to form nouns either from adjectives in -ant or from verbs: brilliance; appearance. -ance suffix indicating an action, state or condition, or quality hindrance, tenancy, resemblance compare -ence word origin via old french from latin -antia; see -ancy -ance suffix attached to verbs to form abstract nouns of process or fact (convergence […]
- -ancy
a combination of -ance and -y, used to form nouns denoting state or quality: brilliancy. -ance suffix indicating an action, state or condition, or quality hindrance, tenancy, resemblance compare -ence word origin via old french from latin -antia; see -ancy -ancy suffix a variant of -ance, used to indicate condition or quality expectancy, poignancy, malignancy […]
- -and
suffix indicating a person or thing that is to be dealt with in a specified way -n-lysand, dividend, multiplicand word origin from latin gerundives ending in -andus, -endus
- -androus
a combining form meaning “male,” occurring as final element of a compound word: polyandrous. -androus combining form (in botany) indicating number or type of stamens diandrous word origin from new latin -andrus, from greek -andros, from anēr man