Affixes

This is a variant spelling of ‑an (see ‑ian), which was sometimes introduced to distinguish words from counterparts in ‑an, as in humane and urbane. Some have no equivalent form in ‑an: arcane (Latin arcanus, from arcere, to shut up), mundane (Latin mundus, world), profane (Latin profanus, outside the temple, not sacred, from fanum, temple). The word spelled germane is a variant of german, from Latin germanus, genuine, of the same parents. In balletomane the ending is ‑mane (see ‑mania).