-ine

See also: ine, Ine, iné, and ìne

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English -ine, from Old French -ine, from Latin -īnus, from Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos. More at -en.

Pronunciation

• (depending on the word taking the suffix) IPA^(key): /-aɪn/, /-iːn/, /-ɪn~-ən/

Suffix

-ine

1. (chiefly non-productive) Of or pertaining to.

   asinine, marine, bovine, cervine

2. Used to form demonyms.

   Levantine, Byzantine, Argentine, Florentine

4. (chemistry) Used to form names of chemical substances, especially basic (alkaline) substances, alkaloidal substances, or halogen elements.

   amine, aniline, caffeine, iodine

5. (non-productive) Used to form feminine nouns.

   ‎hero + ‎-ine → ‎heroine

   ‎speaker + ‎-ine → ‎speakerine

6. (non-productive) Used to form female given names or names of titles.

   ‎Clement + ‎-ine → ‎Clementine

   ‎landgrave + ‎-ine → ‎landgravine

7. Commercial materials

   ‎glass + ‎-ine → ‎glassine

Usage notes

While multiple pronunciations are given above for this suffix, they are not freely interchangeable; instead, each word taking the suffix often only takes one or two of the suffix's possible pronunciations. For example, feminine is almost always pronounced with /-ɪn/, while marine is almost always pronounced with /-iːn/. However, more technical terms (such as iodine, which can take any of the suffix's three possible pronunciations) may not have an established pronunciation, though in feminine names (Maxine) and chemical use (theobromine), the pronunciation /-iːn/ is the most frequent, while in other technical formations (bovine) /-aɪn/ is common.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ine

Related terms

• -in

Translations

used to form names of chemical substances

• Catalan: -ina (ca) f
• Galician: -ina (gl) f
• German: -in (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: -ina (it) f
• Portuguese: -ina (pt) f
• Spanish: -ina (es) f

Etymology 2

Variant of -en.

Suffix

-ine

1. Can be used to denote the plural form of a small number of English words:

   ‎cow + ‎-ine → ‎kine

   ‎sow + ‎-ine → ‎swine

References

• “-ine”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “-ine”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

• -ein, EIN, NEI, NIE, Nie

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Finnish

Etymology

From the same source as -ne (noun-forming suffix) (seen in murene, etc.), with contamination from -in (instrumental suffix) in both form and meaning.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-ineˣ/, [-ine̞(ʔ)]

Suffix

-ine

1. Forms diminutive forms of nouns, particularly for objects or tools.

Derived terms

Finnish terms suffixed with -ine

Anagrams

• ein, ien

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French

Etymology

-in +‎ -e

Suffix

-ine

1. feminine singular of -in
2. female equivalent of -in

French terms suffixed with -ine

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Irish

Suffix

-ine f

1. genitive of -in

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Italian

Suffix

-ine f pl

1. plural of -ina

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Latin

Suffix

1. vocative masculine singular of -īnus