-ae

See also: -æ and Appendix:Variations of "ae"

Translingual

Etymology

From Latin -ae.

Suffix

-ae

1. Used to form adjectives for the species descriptor of a scientific name.

Usage notes

This is was originally just the Latin first-declension genitive singular ending, used to indicate that the new species was "of" something refered to by a Latin word that would end in "-a" in the nominative singular (almost always feminine).

A genitive ending might mean that the new species was associated with someone or something, or it might be parasitic on something. The best known usage has been to indicate that the new species is named after a person, place or thing.

Since the names of most modern people, organizations, etc. don't have Latin endings, it has become the practice to add the Latin genitive ending to the end of the whole word. Thus a species named after Mr. Smith would be smithi or smithii, and for Ms. Smith it would be smithae. That makes this a suffix in its own right rather than merely a Latin case ending.

Derived terms

Translingual terms suffixed with -ae

Aquificae

Exosporeae

lemannae

Saprospirae

swiftae

English

Alternative forms

• -æ (dated)

Etymology

From Latin -ae (nominative plural).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ē IPA^(key): /iː/ (traditional English)
• enPR: ī IPA^(key): /aɪ/ (confusion with -i or imitation of Classical Latin)
• enPR: ā IPA^(key): /eɪ/

Suffix

-ae

1. plural of -a

Derived terms

See Category:English plurals in -ae with singular in -a & in -e

Anagrams

• EA, Ea, ea, ea.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈae̯]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛː]

Etymology 1

Declined forms of -us (suffix forming adjectives).

Suffix

-ae

1. inflection of -us:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine plural
   2. genitive/dative feminine singular

Etymology 2

Declined forms of -a (suffix forming masculine agent nouns or feminine nouns). Originally restricted to the dative singular due to being descended from -āi, the dative singular ending for Proto-Italic first declension nouns, but eventually overtook the genitive singular and the nominative and vocative plurals, displacing -ās, which was relegated to the accusative plural.

Suffix

-ae m or f

1. inflection of -a:
   1. nominative/vocative plural
   2. genitive/dative singular

Portuguese

Suffix

-ae

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of -ai.