English

Suffix

-icity

1. Used to form nouns, denoting a quality or condition, from adjectives, especially ones ending in -ic (in which case "ic" is not duplicated).

   Italian /ɪˈtæl.jən/ — Italianicity /ɪˈtæl.jən.ɪs.ɪ.ti/

   electric /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɪk/ — electricity /ˌiː.lekˈtrɪs.ɪ.ti/ (not /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɪk.ɪ.ti/, nor *electricicity /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɪkɪs.ɪ.ti/)

Related terms

• -ness
• -hood
• -ship
• -itas
• -itude
• -th
• -ia
• -itia
• -ity
• -ability
• -ibility
• -osity
• -ous
• -ose

Related terms

References

• English Words with Native Roots and with Greek, Latin, or Romance Suffixes, George Albert Nicholson (University of Chicago Press, 1916), page 12: lists "-icity" as a foreign suffix "Goth" has taken
• The unmaking of Soviet Life, Caroline Humphrey (2002), page 226: "Barthes (1985, 37) points out that the advertisement does not just give the message that the product is Italian; it evokes "Italianicity". The suffix -icity serves to produce an abstract substantive from an adjective. "Italianicity is not Italy; it is the condensed essence of all that can be Italian, from spaghetti to painting." A similar mythicizing effect is produced in Russian in political discourse by adding the suffix -shchina to a proper name."
• The Etymological Reader, Epes Sargent and Amasa May (1872), Suffixes of English Words, page 37: "-ACITY, -ICITY, -OCITY, n., the state of having, etc., signified by the above suffixes, -aceous, etc.; as, veracity, duplicity, ferocity."