What does "-an" mean?

Of or pertaining to; an adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to make an adjective form. (Often added to words of Latin origin, but also used with words of other origins. When a word ends in a, -n is used instead.)

What is a synonym for "-an"?

Common synonyms include: al, ar, ese, esque, ic, id.

-an

suffix

suffix ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Suffix

1
Of or pertaining to; an adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to make an adjective form. (Often added to words of Latin origin, but also used with words of other origins. When a word ends in a, -n is used instead.) morpheme
"Rome + -an → Roman"
2
Appended to nouns to form an agent noun. (When males with a profession are distinguished from females, males are -an, females -(i)enne.) morpheme
"comedy + -an → comedian"

Synonyms

All synonyms

al ar ese esque ic id

Etymology

From Middle English -an, regularly -ain, -ein, -en, from Old French -ain, -ein, or before i, -en (modern French -ain, -en, feminine -aine, -enne), from Latin -ānus (feminine -āna), which forms adjectives of belonging or origin from a noun, being -nus [cognate with Ancient Greek -νος (-nos)] preceded by a vowel, from Proto-Indo-European *-nós. Cognate with English -en. Compare with -in, -ine.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.