Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “-ary” come from?

-ary (English) comes from Italian -ario, from Latin -ārium, from Latin -um, from Proto-Italic *-om, from Proto-Indo-European *-oHom.

-ary (English): of or pertaining to; adjective suffix appended to...

Definitions

  1. of or pertaining to; adjective suffix appended to...

Ancestry of “-ary”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Italian-ario-ary; Added to nouns to create attributive...
2Latin-ārium—
3Latin-umnominative neuter singular of -us; accusative...
4Proto-Italic*-om—
5Proto-Indo-European*-oHom—

Words derived from “-ary”

  • boundary
  • missionary
  • evolutionary
  • parliamentary
  • complementary
  • dietary
  • legendary
  • visionary
  • discretionary
  • planetary
  • honorary
  • fragmentary
  • complimentary
  • budgetary
  • sedimentary
  • salivary
  • exclusionary
  • precautionary
  • complementarity
  • inflationary
  • medullary
  • alimentary
  • papillary
  • transboundary
Every word from Proto-Indo-European *-oHom →