-itis

suffix
/-ˈaɪtɪs/

Etymology

From New Latin -itis, from Ancient Greek -ῖτις (-îtis, “pertaining to”). This is the feminine form of adjectival suffix -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs). The English suffix derives from the feminine form due to its use with the feminine noun νόσος (nósos, “disease”), particularly with ἀρθρῖτις (νόσος) (arthrîtis (nósos), “disease of the joints”) (one of the earliest English borrowings from which the suffix was extracted and abstracted). Adding "-itis" to the end of a word or phrase can give a humorous sense by generalization.

  1. derived from -ῖτις
  2. derived from -itis

Definitions

  1. Denoting diseases characterized by inflammation, itself often caused by an infection.

  2. Used to form the names of various fictitious afflictions or diseases.

    • What to Do About Senioritis: Make Your Senior Year Count, College Board. Accessed April 4, 2008.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for -itis. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA