-ical
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: ical
English
Etymology
From Middle English -ical, a combination of -ic from Old French -ique, from Latin -icus, related to Ancient Greek suffix Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós), plus -al from Latin adjective suffix -alis, or Old French -el. By surface analysis, -ic + -al.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-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 Greek or Latin origin, but used with other words also.
- mythical, theistical, whimsical
Usage notes
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.
Derived terms
Related terms
Anagrams
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