| 1. | a suffix used to form abstract nouns from adjectives with stems in -t, -te, -tic, and esp. -nt (democracy; accuracy; expediency; stagnancy; lunacy), and sometimes used to form action nouns (vacancy; occupancy). |
| 2. | a suffix of nouns denoting rank or office, sometimes attached to the stem of a word rather than to the word itself: captaincy; magistracy. |
| -cy suff.
[Middle English -cie, from Old French -cie, -tie, from Latin -cia, -tia and Greek -kiā, -keia, -tiā, -teia.] |
