-acy

a suffix of nouns of quality, state, office, etc., many of which accompany adjectives in -acious or nouns or adjectives in -ate: fallacy; papacy; legacy; delicacy; piracy.

Nearby words

-acea, -aceae, -aceous, -acious, -acity, -acy, -ad, -ade, -adelphous, -ades, -ado

Origin of -acy

< Latin -ācia, -ātia (spelling interchangeably in Medieval Latin, reflecting the Rom merger of the forms); these are in turn complexes of -āc- and -āt- -ate¹ + -ia -y³. Cf. -cracy