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-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:
< NL, L, Gk, equiv. to -i- (formative or connective) or -ī- (Gk -ei-) + -a, fem. sing. or neut. pl. n. or adj. ending

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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-ia¹
suff.

Disease; pathological or abnormal condition: anoxia.
Territory; country: Australia.

[New Latin, from Latin -ia and Greek -iā, n. suff.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

-ia²
suff. Things derived from, relating to, or belonging to: personalia.

[Latin, neuter pl. of -ius, Greek, neuter pl. of -ios, n. and adj. suffixes.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

-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.

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