-ion | Meaning Of Suffix -ion By Etymonline

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Origin and history of -ion

-ion

word-forming element attached to verbs, making nouns of state, condition, or action, from French -ion or directly from Latin -ionem (nominative -io, genitive -ionis), common suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs.

Entries linking to -ion

automation(n.)

1948, in the manufacturing sense, "the large-scale use of automatic equipment in production," coined by Ford Motor Co. Vice President Delmar S. Harder, from automatic (adj.) + -ion. Earlier (1838) was automatism, which meant "quality of being automatic" in the classical sense.

circumnavigation(n.)

"act of sailing round," 1705, from circumnavigate + -ion.

• exertion
• fellation
• flocculation
• indirection
• levitation
• motivation
• prospection
• syndication
• -ation
• -tion
• See All Related Words (12)

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iodineiode "iodine," which was coined 1812 by French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac from Greek ioeides "violet-colored" (from ion...poemFrom 1580s as "written composition, whether in verse or not, characterized by imaginative beauty ion thought or language....IonianThe name (which Herodotus credits to an ancestral Ion, son of Apollo and Creusa) probably is pre-Greek, perhaps related to...soldierc. 1300, souder, soudiour, "fighting man, one engaged ion military service," from Old French soudier, soldier and Anglo-French...Mississippioriginally the name of the river, from the French rendering of an Algonquian name (French missionaries first penetrated the river valley in its upper reaches) meaning "big river;" compare Ojibwa mshi- "big," ziibi "river." Organized as a U.S. territory 1798; admitted as a state 1consumptionlate 14c., "wasting of the body by disease; wasting disease, progressive emaciation" (replacing Old English yfeladl "the evil disease"), from Old French consumpcion, from Latin consumptionem (nominative consumptio) "a using up, wasting," noun of state from past-participle stem ofaloof1530s, "to windward," from a- (1) "on" + Middle English loof "windward direction," which is probably from Dutch loef (Middle Dutch lof) "the weather side of a ship" (see luff (n.)). Originally in nautical orders to keep the ship's head to the wind, and thus stay clear of a lee-shsatellite1540s, "follower or attendant of a superior person" (but rare in this sense before late 18c.), from French satellite (14c.), from Latin satellitem (nominative satelles) "an attendant" upon a distinguished person; "a body-guard, a courtier; an assistant," in Cicero often in carpenter"artificer in timber, one who does the heavier sort of wood-working," c. 1300 (attested from early 12c. as a surname), from Anglo-French carpenter, Old North French carpentier (Old French and Modern French charpentier), from Late Latin (artifex) carpentarius "wagon (maker); carricolonel"chief commander of a regiment of troops," 1540s, coronell, from French coronel (16c.), modified by dissimilation from Italian colonnella "commander of the column of soldiers at the head of a regiment," from compagna colonella "little column company," from Latin columna "pillar,"

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‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ionCopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ion">Etymology of -ion by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of -ion. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved January 5, 2026, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ionCopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of -ion," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed January 5, 2026, https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ion.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of -ion." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ion. Accessed 5 January, 2026.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of -ion." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ion (accessed January 5, 2026).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisement

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TrendingDictionary entries near -ion

• Io
• iodic
• iodide
• iodine
• iodize
• -ion
• ion
• Ionian
• Ionic
• ionization
• ionize

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