-escent

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | 590 words | Copyright

-escent suffix repr. F. -escent and its source L. -ēscēns, -ēscent-, prp. ending of vbs. in -ēscere, chiefly inceptives f. vbs. of state in -ēre, e.g. liquēscere, f. liquēre be LIQUID; primarily occurring in adjs. — L. prps. (orig. through F.), as deliquescent, effervescent, obsolescent, the gen. sense being ‘beginning to assume a certain state’; also used in several words describing the play of light and colour, as fluorescent, iridescent, opalescent, phosphorescent. The corr. sb. suffix is -escence, less freq. -escency.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

T. F. HOAD. "-escent." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "-escent." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-escent.html

T. F. HOAD. "-escent." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-escent.html

Learn more about citation styles