definitions

-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.

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English Affixes From A To Z: A One-Stop List Of Suffixes, Prefixes, and Combining FormsIn English, we love to make new words by adding all sorts of bits to the front and back of existing terms. These are called affixes, and they are added to the base or stem of a word. When attached to the end of word, the affix is called a suffix. And to the beginning? A prefix.
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Nearby words

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

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
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019