Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Of, relating to, or characterized by: seismic.
- n. Having a valence higher than that of a specified element in compounds or ions named with adjectives ending in -ous: sulfuric acid.
- n. One relating to or characterized by: academic.
Wiktionary
- n. Used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning "of or pertaining to";
- n. chemistry Used to denote certain chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a higher oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -ous. For example sulphuric acid (H2SO4) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H2SO3).
GNU Webster's 1913
- A suffix signifying, in general,
relating to , orcharacteristic of - (Chem.) A suffix, denoting that the element indicated enters into certain compounds with its
highest valence , or with a valence relatively higher than in compounds where the name of the element ends in -ous . It is also used in the general sense ofpertaining to .
Etymologies
- From French -ique, from Latin -icus, from Proto-Indo-European *-ikos, *-iḱos, formed with the i-stem suffix *-i- and the adjectival suffix *-ko-. Cognates include Ancient Greek -ικος (-ikos), Sanskrit श (-śas), क (-kas) and Old Church Slavonic -ъkъ (ŭkŭ). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French -ique, from Latin -icus and from Greek -ikos. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The name tags had been specially prepared: a blank space for your name on the first line, the printed words A Person With on the second, and on the bottom line you were supposed to print the name of your phobia, using the -ia suffix, not the -ic.”
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