- -ic
*The
Modern English adjectival suffix -ic was first seen as a suffix in English during theMiddle English period. It was borrowed in words fromOld French '-ique', which came fromLatin '-icus', which came ultimately fromAncient Greek '-ικος (-ikos)'. There are some that contend that '-icus' was native to Latin and wascognate with rather than borrowed from Greek. At any rate, the suffix -icus was very wide-spread by theClassical Latin period in native words as well as in words derived from Greek. Fact|date=August 2007
*It is also used inchemistry to denote certainchemical compound s in which a specifiedchemical element has a higheroxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix-ous . SeeInorganic nomenclature .
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