| a combining form meaning “having parts or units” of the number specified by the initial element, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin (duplex; quadruplex); recent English coinages ending in -plex, esp. denoting structures with a given number of dwelling units, are probably in part new formations with this suffix and in part based on the noun complex: fourplex; eightplex; Cineplex; Metroplex. |
| -plex suff. Divided into a specified number of parts: fourplex. [From Latin -plex, -fold (as in duplex, two-fold); see plek- in Indo-European roots.] |
