-ability
suffix expressing ability 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
suffix expressing ability, capacity, fitness, from L. -ibilis, -abilis, forming adjectives from verbs, from PIE *-
tro-, a suffix used to form nouns of instrument. In L., infinitives in -are took -abilis, others -ibilis; in Eng., -
able is used for native words, -ible for words of obvious L. origin. The Latin suffix is not etymologically
connected with able, but it long has been popularly associated with it, and this has contributed to its
survival as a living suffix. It is related to the second syllable of rudder and saddle.
-acea
suffix denoting orders and classes in zoology, from L. -acea, neut. pl. of -aceus "belonging to, of the
nature of" (enlarged from adj. suffix -ax, gen. -acis); neut. pl. because of a presumed animalia, a neuter
plural noun. Thus, crustacea "shellfish" are *crustacea animalia "crusty animals." In botany, the suffix is -
aceae, from the fem. pl. of -aceus, with reference to L. plantae, which is a fem. plural.
-ad
suffix denoting collective numerals (cf. Olympiad), from Gk. -as (gen. -ados), a suffix forming fem. nouns;
also used in fem. patronymics (Dryad, Naiad, also, in plural, Pleiades, Hyades).
-ado
in commando, desperado, tornado, and other words of Sp. and Port. origin, "person or group participating
in an action," from L. -atus, pp. suffix of verbs of the first conjugation (cf. -ade).
-age
suffix forming nouns of act, process, function, condition, from O.Fr./Fr. -age, from L.L. -aticum "belonging
to, related to," originally neut. adj. suffix, from L. -atus, pp. suffix of verbs of the first conjugation.
-aholic
abstracted from alcoholic first in sugarholic (1965), later in workaholic (1968), golfaholic (1971),
chocoholic (1976), and shopaholic (1984).
-algia
suffix denoting "pain," from Gk. algos "pain," algein "to feel pain," of unknown origin.
-archy
suffix meaning "rule," from L. -archia, from Gk. -arkhia, from arkhos "leader, chief, ruler," from arkhe
"beginning, origin, first place."
-aster
suffix expressing incomplete resemblance (e.g. poetaster), usually dim. and deprecatory, from L., from
Gk. -aster, suffix originally forming nouns from verbs ending in -azein, later generalized as a pejorative
suffix, e.g. patraster "he who plays the father."
a (1)
indefinite article, c.1150, a variation of O.E. an (see an) in which the -n- began to disappear before
consonants, a process mostly complete by 1340. The -n- also was retained before words beginning with a
sounded -h- until c.1600; it still is retained by many writers before unaccented syllables in h- or (e)u-, but
is now no longer normally spoken as such. The -n- also lingered (especially in southern England dialect)
before -w- and -y- through 15c.
a (2)
as in twice a day, etc., is from O.E. an "on," in this case "on each." The sense was extended from time to
measure, price, place, etc. The habit of tacking a onto a gerund (as in a-hunting we will go) died out 18c.
a capella
1876, earlier alla capella (1847), from It., "in the manner of the chapel," lit. "according to the chapel," from
cappella "chapel." Originally in ref. to older church music (pre-1600) which was written for unaccompanied
voices; applied 20c. to unaccompanied vocal music generally.
a priori
1710, "from cause to effect" (a logical term, in ref. to reasoning), from L., lit. "from what comes first," from
priori, abl. of prior "first" (see prior (adj.)). Used loosely for "in accordance with previous knowledge"
(1834).
A&P
U.S. grocery chain, originally The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded 1859 by George
Huntington Hartford and George Gilman.
a- (1)
in native (derived from O.E.) words, it most commonly represents O.E. an "on" (see a (2)), as in alive,
asleep, abroad, ashore, etc., forming adjectives and adverbs from nouns; but it also can be M.E. of, as in
anew, abreast (1599); or a reduced form of O.E. pp. prefix ge-, as in aware; or the O.E. intens. a-, as in
arise, awake, ashame, marking a verb as momentary, a single event. In words from Romanic languages,
often it represents L. ad- "to, at."
"[I]t naturally happened that all these a- prefixes were at length confusedly lumped together in idea, and
the resultant a- looked upon as vaguely intensive, rhetorical, euphonic, or even archaic, and wholly
otiose." [OED]
a- (2)
prefix meaning "not," from L. a-, short for ab "away from" (cf. avert), or its cognate, Gk. a-, short for apo
"away from, from," both cognate with Skt. apa "away from," Goth. af, O.E. of.
a- (3)
prefix meaning "not," from Gk. a-, an- "not," from PIE base *ne "not" (see un-).