-ical
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Combination of -ic from French -ique, from Latin -icus, related to Ancient Greek suffix -ικός (-ikos), plus -al from Latin adjective suffix -alis, or French -el.
Suffix[edit]
-ical
- Used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning "of or pertaining to"; adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to make an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also.
Usage notes[edit]
Often redundant to the use of -ic alone; for example, mythic and mythical are identical in meaning. Likewise for -etic, as in phonetic and phonetical. For words that naturally end in -ic such as magic and statistic, the addition is only of -al.
