-ence
-ence suffix — (O)F. — L. -entia, f. -ent- -ENT with abstr. suffix. In popL. -entia was superseded by -antia, repr. in OF. by -ance, e.g. aparance APPEARANCE, contenance COUNTENANCE. Later, L. sbs. in -ntia were adopted in F. with the L. vowels, e.g. absence, élégance, présence, and both classes were adopted in ME. with their F. forms and meanings; but in early mod. Eng. some sbs. in -ance have been altered back to -ence, and all sbs. adopted since have followed the L. forms. The result is that mod. spelling shows many variations, e.g. assistance, existence, resistance, subsistence.
More From encyclopedia.com
chela , che·la1 / ˈkēlə/ • n. (pl. -lae / -lē; -lī/ ) Zool. a pincerlike claw, esp. of a crab or other crustacean. Compare with chelicera. che·la2 / ˈchālä/… lact- , lact- stem of L. lac, lact- milk (cf. Gr. gála, galakt-; see GALAXY) in derivs.: lactation XVII(f. L. lactāre), lacteal XVII (f. L. lacteus), lacteou… multi- , multi- comb. form of L. multus much, many; the earliest comps. in Eng. are multiformity, multiloquy (XVI) talkativeness, multifarious (XVII) many and… -ated , bi- repr. L. bi- (earlier dui- = Gr. di-, Skr. dvi-) twice, doubly, two-, in L. chiefly in adj. formations on sb. stems, as BICEPS, bicolor of two co… Alum , alum (ăl´əm), any one of a series of isomorphous double salts that are hydrated sulfates of a univalent cation (e.g., potassium, sodium, ammonium, ce… Eliphelet , Eliphal (ĕl´īfăl, ēlī´fəl), the same as Eliphelet4.
Eliphalet (ēlĬf´əlĕt), in the Bible, name of two sons of David. Alternate forms are Eliphelet and…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
-ence