octa-

a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek and Latin, where it meant “eight” (octagon; octastyle), on this model, used in the formation of compound words, and in chemical terms specialized to mean “having eight atoms” (octavalent).

Also oct-, octo-.

Origin of octa-

< Greek okta-, combining form of oktṓ eight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for octa

Historical Examples of octa

After this Eosa and the rest that fled, being encouraged by Octa's success, came also, and were admitted to the same favour.
Old English Chronicles
Various
The incautious sovereign having assented to this, Octa and Ebusa arrived with forty ships.
Old English Chronicles
Various

British Dictionary definitions for octa

octa

noun

a variant spelling of okta

octa-

combining form

a variant of octo-

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for octa

octa-

before vowels oct-, word-forming element meaning "eight," from Greek okta-, okt-, from PIE *okto(u) "eight" (see eight). The variant form octo- often appears in words taken from Latin, but the Greek form is said to be the more common in English.