-ic
a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally in greek and latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses “having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun) (balletic; soph-m-ric); “in the style of” (byronic; miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (finnic; semitic; turkic).
chemistry. a suffix, specialized in opposition to -ous, used to show the higher of two valences:
ferric chloride.
a noun suffix occurring chiefly in loanwords from greek, where such words were originally adjectival (critic; magic; music).
-ic
suffix
of, relating to, or resembling allergic, germanic, periodic see also -ical
(in chemistry) indicating that an element is chemically combined in the higher of two possible valence states ferric, stannic compare -ous (sense 2)
word origin
-ic
adj. suffix, from fr. -ique, from l. -icus, which in many cases represents gk. -ikos “in the manner of; pertaining to.” from pie –(i)ko, which also yielded slavic -isku, adj. suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (rus. -skii) in many surnames.
-ic suff.
of, relating to, or characterized by: carbonic.
having a valence higher than that of a specified element in compounds or ions named with adjectives ending in -ous: ferric.
of or relating to an acid: sulfuric acid.
Read Also:
- -ical
a combination of -ic and -al1 , used in forming adjectives from nouns (rhetorical), providing synonyms to words ending in -ic, (poetical), and providing an adjective with additional meanings to those in the -ic, form (economical). -ical suffix a variant of -ic economical, fanatical derived forms word origin -ical adj. suffix, mostly the same as […]
- -ically
a suffix used to form adverbs from adjectives ending in -ic, (terrifically) and -ical, (poetically; magically).
- -ician
a suffix forming personal nouns denoting occupations: beautician; mortician. -ician suffix indicating a person skilled or involved in a subject or activity physician, beautician word origin
- -ics
a suffix of nouns that denote a body of facts, knowledge, principles, etc., usually corresponding to adjectives ending in -ic, or -ical: ethics; physics; politics; tactics . usage note -ics suffix (functioning as sing) indicating a science, art, or matters relating to a particular subject aeronautics, politics indicating certain activities or practices acrobatics word origin […]
- -id
a suffix of nouns that have the general sense “offspring of, descendant of,” occurring originally in loanwords from greek (atreid; nereid), and productive in english on the greek model, especially in names of dynasties, with the dynasty’s founder as the base noun (abbasid; attalid), and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun […]