-ant
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English -ant, -aunt, partly from Old French -ant, from Latin -āns; and partly (in adjectival derivations) continuing Middle English -ant, a variant of -and, -end, from Old English -ende (present participle ending), see -and.
SuffixEdit
-ant
- (now sciences, chiefly medicine) The agent noun derived from verb.
- An adjective corresponding to a noun in -ance, having the sense of "exhibiting (the condition or process described by the noun)".
- An adjective derived from a verb, having the senses of: (a) "doing (the verbal action)", and/or (b) "prone/tending to do (the verbal action)".
- Alternative form of -and
- blatant, blicant; flippant
Usage notesEdit
- Many words in -ant were not actually coined in English but rather borrowed directly from Old French, Middle French or Modern French.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant m (plural -anten, feminine -ante)
- appended to the stem of a verb, it yields a noun which signifies the subject who performs the action of that verb (see agent noun)
Derived termsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French -ant, from Latin -āns, -ēns. Compare Italian -ante, -ente, Spanish -ante, -ente, -iente.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant (invariable)
- -ing; suffix denoting the gerund and present participle of a verb
SuffixEdit
-ant (feminine -ante, masculine plural -ants, feminine plural -antes)
- -ant, -ing; forms adjectives out of verbs
- (rare) forms adjectives from words other than verbs
- abracadabra + -ant → abracadabrant
SuffixEdit
-ant m (plural -ants, feminine -ante)
- -er; forms nouns out of verbs
Usage notesEdit
- French present participles are used, chiefly in literary style, to replace relative clauses. In this case they are not inflected for number and gender: une femme aimant ses enfants (“a woman loving her children”), equivalent to une femme qui aime ses enfants (“a woman who loves her children”).
- Some present participles can also be used as actual adjectives. In this case they are inflected: une femme aimante (“a loving/caring woman”). This adjectival use is lexicalised, however, which means that it is common only for certain participles, not all (unlike English).
Related termsEdit
GermanEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German -ant, from Old French -ant; and also directly from Latin -antis, -ans.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant m (weak, genitive -anten, plural -anten, feminine -antin)
- Forms agent nouns, mostly from verbs of Romance or Latin origin.
Usage notesEdit
- This ending is semi-productive, see e.g. Asylant, Antifant.
- This ending rarely also occurs in the neuter gender, see e.g. Antiozonant.
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
- -ans (rare, unproductive synonym from the same source)
Further readingEdit
HungarianEdit
EtymologyEdit
-a- (“linking vowel”) + -n (“instantaneous suffix”) + -t (“causative suffix”)[1]
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant
- (instantaneous suffix) Added to a stem - often an onomatopoeia - to form a verb expressing an instantaneous action.
- pillant (“to glance”)
Usage notesEdit
- (instantaneous suffix) Harmonic variants:
Derived termsEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ -ant in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)
LatinEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Italic *-ānt, from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yónti.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant
- third-person plural present active indicative of -ō (first conjugation)
DescendantsEdit
Middle FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
SuffixEdit
-ant
- used to form the present participle of verbs
Old FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant
- used to form the present participle of verbs
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
PolishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from French -ant, from Old French -ant, from Latin -āns, -ēns.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant m pers
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
WelshEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Alternative formsEdit
SuffixEdit
-ant m (plural -annau)
Etymology 2Edit
SuffixEdit
-ant
- (literary) verb suffix for the third-person plural present indicative/future