-an
English
suffix
Definitions
- Of or pertaining to; . Often added to words of Latin origin, but also used with words of other origins. When a word ends in a, m
- When males with a profession are distinguished from females, males are -an, females -(i)enne.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English -an derived from Old French -ain derived from Latin -ānus (-an, of pertaining to, of n-g, -ian, suffix meaning of pertaining to) derived from Proto-Indo-European *-nós (suffix creating adjective nouns from verbs, suffix forming a verbal adjective from a verb stem).
Origin
Proto-Indo-European
*-nós
Gloss
suffix creating adjective nouns from verbs, suffix forming a verbal adjective from a verb stem
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- -ane English
- -ean English
- Aegean English
- Colophonian English
- Sauria English
- apiarian English
- aurora English
- aurorean English
- saurian English
- -anus Latin
- -nus Latin
- -ānus Latin
- Colophōnius Latin
- apiārium Latin
- Saurier German
- -ano Italian
- -ain French
- -en French
- saurien French
- -ano Spanish, Castilian
- -iano Spanish, Castilian
- -νος Ancient Greek
- Αἰγαῖος Ancient Greek
- *-nós Proto-Indo-European
- *h₃érsos Proto-Indo-European
- *steb- Proto-Indo-European
- -ano Portuguese
- *-anaz Proto-Germanic
- *slup- Proto-Germanic
- -anar Norwegian Nynorsk
- -an Middle English
- -ain Old French
- -an- Esperanto
- ईजियन Hindi
- -ana Indonesian
- -ան Old Armenian
- -an- Ido