-i

suffix — 5 senses

-i

suffix

/iː/

Etymology A conflation of the following suffixes: * For Semitic-speaking places, from the Arabic ـِيّ (-iyy) (nisba suffix) and from Hebrew ־י (-i), both sharing a common Semitic root. * For Indo-Iranian-speaking places, from Persian ـی (-ī) and Hindustani Hindi -ई (-ī) / Urdu ـی (-ī). In English, productive since the 19th century.

1

Morpheme Used to form adjectives, nouns, demonyms (describing people of a particular city, region or country) or genonyms (describing people of a particular tribe, clan or family) and the language spoken by these people.

  • Hindustan + -i → Hindustani
  • Hind + -i → Hindi
4 more examples
  • Iran + -i → Irani
  • Iraq + -i → Iraqi
  • Israel + -i → Israeli
  • Awadh + -i → Awadhi
Related terms
-er, -stan

-i

suffix

English, traditional /aɪ/

Etymology From Latin -ī (nominative plural).

1

Morpheme Forms an alternative plural ending for various words borrowed from Latin that end in ⟨us⟩ in the singular.

  • focus + -i → foci
  • radius + -i → radii
2

Morpheme, Nonstandard, Proscribed, Sometimes Forms an alternative plural ending for various words that end in ⟨us⟩ in the singular, despite not being borrowed from Latin.

  • platypus + -i → platypi
  • amogus + -i → amogi

-i

suffix

Etymology From Italian -i (masculine plural), from Latin -ī (see etymology 2).

1

Morpheme Forms an alternative plural ending for words borrowed from Italian that end in ⟨o⟩ or ⟨e⟩ in the singular.

  • concerto + -i → concerti
  • calzone + -i → calzoni

-i

suffix

Etymology Variant of -ie or -y.

1

Morpheme Used to form diminutives of given names.

  • Becki, Benji, Jimmi, Lexi, Nicki, Sammi, Sandi, Trini, Vicki

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.