-y3
A quality, state, action, or entity.
[Old French -ie, deriving from Latin -ia.]
Many common English nouns that were brought into the language from French in medieval times and later contain this ending. It is not an active word-forming element itself, but is often found in compound ones that are, such as -cracy or -graphy. Examples are blasphemy, courtesy, family, glory, honesty, jealousy, library, misery, navy, orthodoxy, society, story, subsidy, and victory. See also entries for other compound suffixes containing this form: -cy, -ance (for -ancy and -ency) (for -ancy and -ency), -ery, -gen (for -geny), -ity, -logy, -tomy, -ty1. See -ia for words that retain the Latin ending.
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