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-ic - 3 dictionary results

-ic

 
1. a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally in Greek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses “having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic).
2. Chemistry. a suffix, specialized in opposition to -ous, used to show the higher of two valences: ferric chloride.
3. a noun suffix occurring chiefly in loanwords from Greek, where such words were originally adjectival (critic; magic; music).
Origin:
ME -ic, -ik < L -icus; in many words repr. the cognate Gk -ikos (directly or through L); in some words r. -ique < F < L -icus
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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-ic  
suff.  
  1. Of, relating to, or characterized by: seismic.
  2. Having a valence higher than that of a specified element in compounds or ions named with adjectives ending in -ous: sulfuric acid.
  3. One relating to or characterized by: academic.


[Middle English, from Old French -ique, from Latin -icus and from Greek -ikos.]

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

Hon`or*if"ic\, a. [See Honor, -fy, and -ic.] Conferring honor; tending to honor. --London. Spectator.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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