English

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Etymology

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From rebracketing of plural forms like radii (plural of radius), borrowed from Latin. Latin forms the nominative plural of second-declension nouns by replacing -us with -ī, which results in plural forms that end in -iī for nouns with singulars ending in -ius. Some English speakers occasionally extend -ii to form nonstandard plural forms of English nouns that end simply with the letters -us or with other letter sequences with a similar pronunciation (such as -is /ɪs/).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): (variously) /aɪ/, /i.aɪ/, /iː/

Suffix

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-ii

  1. Misspelling of -i.
  2. Used to form nonstandard, uncommon, often humorous alternative plural forms of nouns that end in -us, -is or a similar sound.
    Examples:
    Elvis + ‎-ii → ‎Elvii
    penis + ‎-ii → ‎penii
    virus + ‎-ii → ‎virii
    walrus + ‎-ii → ‎walrii
    fetus + ‎-ii → ‎fetii
    stewardess + ‎-ii → ‎stewardii
    Airbus + ‎-ii → ‎Airbii

Usage notes

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  • All such forms are nonstandard, and therefore may be proscribed.
  • For certain forms, such as cactii, a standard spelling with -i (cacti) exists; in this case, the -ii spelling may be simply a misspelling of the -i form.
  • Other innovative plurals in -ii, such as stewardii, bear no resemblance to any standard plural form of the word; these may be used as intentionally nonstandard forms, often for the sake of humor. Compare the (often humorous) intentional use of nonstandard plural forms in -en.

Italian

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Etymology

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From Latin -īvī (via -īī).[1] Example: Italian finii, from Latin finivi.

Suffix

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-ii (non-lemma form of verb-forming suffix)

  1. used with a stem to form the first-person singular past historic of regular -ire verbs

References

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  1. ^ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, →ISBN, page 145

Latin

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Suffix

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-iī

  1. inflection of -ius:
    1. nominative/vocative masculine plural
    2. genitive masculine/neuter singular
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Suffix

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-ii

  1. nominalizer, creating agentive nouns from verbs and adjectives: "that which [verbs]", or "that which [is of adjective quality]"; compare English -er

Usage notes

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Example: from the verb hataał (he sings) + -ii, we can make a noun for hataałii (singer)

Derived terms

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See also

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Phalura

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-ii

  1. Genitive suffix

Alternative forms

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  • -íi (With accent-shifting nouns)
  • -e (Biori)
  • (With accent-shifting nouns in Biori)

References

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  • Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “-ii”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎[1], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN