Does the suffix -ant have two different meanings?
Hi, I have a question about the suffix -ant/-ent
I know that this suffix can mean "person who or thing that does", as in president (person who presides), student (person who studies) and propellant (thing that propels).
But this suffix also appears in words like flamboyant, important, distant, constant, and it seems to me that the meaning of the -ant suffix in these cases is "characteristic of; having the nature of". But I just wanted to double-check here and confirm with you folks that whether my understanding on this suffix is correct or not.
Thank you so much!
Top answer
You can't look at it like that. They are not English suffixes with meanings. Those words come from French and Latin, where "-ant" and "-ent" denote the present participle.
- You can't look at it like that.
- They are not English suffixes with meanings.
- Those words come from French and Latin, where "-ant" and "-ent" denote the present participle.
- For example, "flamboyant" is the present participle of flamboyer , "to blaze".
- There are only a handful of productive suffixes in English, such as "-ability" and "-oid".
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You can't look at it like that. They are not English suffixes with meanings. Those words come from French and Latin, where "-ant" and "-ent" denote the present participle. For example, "flamboyant" is the present participle of flamboyer, "to blaze".
There are only a handful of productive suffixes in English, such as "-ability" and "-oid".
0-ant and -ent are endings derived from the Romance language endings roughly equivalent to the English -ing ending.
But that's about as far as it goes. Throughout the history of the English language, the meanings of specific words have drifted, sometimes quite far, and in different directions, from their original meanings, so we are left with somewhat of a disarray o
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