Affixes

Examples include: Cairene, an inhabitant of Cairo; Hellene, of Greece (Greek Hellēn, a Greek); Nazarene, of Nazareth, referring specially to Christ or, figuratively, to Christians (Greek Nazarēnos, from Nazaret, Nazareth); Damascene, of Damascus. Most examples can also be adjectives referring to the place or the inhabitant. A Gadarene is literally an inhabitant of Gadara, but is usually an adjective referring to a headlong or potentially disastrous rush to do something, from the Gospel story of the Gadarene swine (New Testament Greek Gadarēnos).

Other words ending in ‑ene come from a variety of sources: gangrene from Greek gangraina and epicene from Greek epikoinos (based on koinos, common); contravene, intervene, and supervene all derive from Latin venire, come; obscene comes from Latin obscaenus, ill-omened or abominable.