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-escent
- a suffix of adjectives borrowed from Latin, where it expresses the beginning of an action or process; often corresponding to verbs ending in -esce and nouns ending in -escence: convalescent; recrudescent.
-escent
suffix forming adjectives
- beginning to be, do, show, etc
convalescent
luminescent
Derived Forms
- -escence, suffix:forming_nouns
Word History and Origins
Origin of -escent1
Word History and Origins
Origin of -escent1
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Words That Use -escent
What does -escent mean?
The suffix -escent denotes adjectives expressing the beginning of an action or process. It is occasionally used in scientific and technical terms.
The form -escent comes from the Latin participle-forming suffix -ēscēns, roughly meaning “becoming,” which is based on the verbal suffix -ēscere, an inchoative (also known as inceptive) element meaning “to become, begin to be.” There are two equivalents of -ēscere in English: -en, as in darken and strengthen, and -fy or -ify, as in liquefy or simplify.
What are variants of -escent?
While -escent doesn’t have any variants, it is related to the forms -esce in verbs and -escence in nouns. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles on -esce and -escence.
Examples of -escent
One example of a term that features the form -escent is iridescent, “displaying a play of lustrous colors like those of the rainbow.”
The form irid- means “rainbow,” from Greek îris. As we have seen, -escent indicates the beginning of an action or process. Iridescent literally translates to “beginning to be a rainbow.”
What are some words that use the combining form -escent?
- acaulescent
- adolescent (using the equivalent form of -escent in Latin)
- arborescent (using the equivalent form of -escent in Latin)
- caulescent
- evanescent (using the equivalent form of -escent in Latin)
- luminescent
- opalescent
What are some other forms that -escent may be commonly confused with?
Break it down!
The word lumen (stem lumin-) in Latin means “light.” With this in mind, what does luminescent mean?
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