-osis

a suffix occurring in nouns that denote actions, conditions, or states (hypnosis; leukocytosis; osmosis), especially disorders or abnormal states (chlorosis; neurofibromatosis; tuberculosis).

Origin of -osis

On the model of Greek borrowings ending in Greek -ōsis, as sklērōsissclerosis, derived originally from verbs ending in the formative -o- (-ō- in noun derivatives), with the suffix -sis-sis

Compare -otic.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use -osis in a sentence

The surgeons had called it something ending in osis and prescribed finally "light duty."
Command | William McFee

British Dictionary definitions for -osis

-osis

suffix forming nouns

indicating a process or state: metamorphosis
indicating a diseased condition: tuberculosis Compare -iasis

indicating the formation or development of something: fibrosis

Origin of -osis

from Greek, suffix used to form nouns from verbs with infinitives in -oein or -oun

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

Scientific definitions for -osis

-osis

A suffix that means:
Diseased condition, as in tuberculosis.

Condition or process, as in osmosis.

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