-ia

-ia

a noun suffix having restricted application in various fields, as in names of diseases (malaria; anemia), place names (Italia; Romania), names of Roman feasts (Lupercalia), Latin or Latinizing plurals (Amphibia; insignia; Reptilia), and in other loanwords from Latin (militia).

Origin:
< Neo-Latin, Latin, Greek, equivalent to -i- (formative or connective) or -ī- (Greek -ei-) + -a, feminine singular or neuter plural noun or adj. ending

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
-ia
 
suffix forming nouns
1.  occurring in place names: Albania; Columbia
2.  occurring in names of diseases and pathological disorders: pneumonia; aphasia
3.  occurring in words denoting condition or quality: utopia
4.  occurring in names of botanical genera: acacia; poinsettia
5.  occurring in names of zoological classes: Reptilia
6.  occurring in collective nouns borrowed from Latin: marginalia; memorabilia; regalia
 
[(for senses 1--4) New Latin, from Latin and Greek, suffix of feminine nouns; (for senses 5--6) from Latin, neuter plural suffix]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
-ia is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

-ia
suffix forming names of countries, diseases, flowers, from L. and Gk. -ia, which forms abstract nouns of fem. gender. In paraphernalia, Mammalia, etc. it represents the L. and Gk. plural suffix of nouns in -ium or -ion.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

-ia 1
suff.
Disease; pathological or abnormal condition: anoxia.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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