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What does the -mate suffix mean and where does it come from?

English Language & Usage Asked on December 10, 2020

What does the suffix "-mate" mean? It makes a word into a verb, like with automate or decimate, but does it actually have a meaning? Is it perhaps Greek for "to make" or something?

One Answer

The suffix you are looking for is actually -ate:

word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -atus, -atum (such as estate, primate, senate). Those that came to English via Old and Middle French often arrived with -at, but an -e was added after c. 1400 to indicate the long vowel. The suffix also can mark adjectives formed from Latin past participles in -atus, -ata (such as desolate, moderate, separate); again, they often were adopted in Middle English as -at, with an -e appended after c. 1400.

decimate (v.)

c. 1600, "to select by lot and put to death every tenth man," from Latin decimatus.

Etymonline

Answered by user121863 on December 10, 2020

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