-ant

English

Etymology

From Middle English -ant, -aunt, partly from Old French -ant, from Latin -āns; and partly (in adjectival derivations) continuing Middle English -ant, a variant of -and, -end, from Old English -ende (present participle ending), see -and.

Suffix

-ant

1. (now sciences, chiefly medicine) The agent noun derived from verb.

   serve → servant

2. An adjective corresponding to a noun in -ance, having the sense of "exhibiting (the condition or process described by the noun)".
3. An adjective derived from a verb, having the senses of: (a) "doing (the verbal action)", and/or (b) "prone/tending to do (the verbal action)".

   ascend → ascendant

   err → errant.

4. Alternative form of -and

   blatant, blicant; flippant, old-farrant

Usage notes

• Many words in -ant were not actually coined in English but rather borrowed directly from Old French, Middle French or Modern French.

Derived terms

Related terms

• -ance

Anagrams

• NAT, NTA, Nat, Nat., TAN, TNA, Tan, nat, tan

Dutch

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑnt/

• Audio

  (file)

Suffix

-ant m (plural -anten, feminine -ante)

1. appended to the stem of a verb, it yields a noun which signifies the subject who performs the action of that verb (see agent noun)

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French -ant, from Latin -antem, -entem. Compare Italian -ante, -ente, Spanish -ante, -ente, -iente.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Suffix

-ant (invariable)

1. -ing; suffix denoting the gerund and present participle of a verb

   ‎jouer (“to play”) + ‎-ant → ‎jouant (“playing”)

Suffix

-ant (feminine -ante, masculine plural -ants, feminine plural -antes)

1. -ant, -ing; forms adjectives out of verbs
2. (rare) forms adjectives from words other than verbs

   ‎abracadabra + ‎-ant → ‎abracadabrant

Suffix

-ant m (plural -ants, feminine -ante)

1. -er; forms nouns out of verbs

Usage notes

• French present participles are used, chiefly in literary style, to replace relative clauses. In this case they are not inflected for number and gender: une femme aimant ses enfants (“a woman loving her children”), equivalent to une femme qui aime ses enfants (“a woman who loves her children”).
• Some present participles can also be used as actual adjectives. In this case they are inflected: une femme aimante (“a loving/caring woman”). This adjectival use is lexicalised, however, which means that it is common only for certain participles, not all (unlike English).

Related terms

• -amment
• -ance

German

Etymology

From Middle High German -ant, from Old French -ant; and also directly from Latin -antis, -ans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ant/

Suffix

-ant m (weak, genitive -anten, plural -anten, feminine -antin)

2. Forms agent nouns, mostly from verbs of Romance or Latin origin.

   ‎liefern (“to supply”) + ‎-ant → ‎Lieferant (“supplier”)

Usage notes

• This ending is semi-productive, see e.g. Asylant, Antifant.
• This ending rarely also occurs in the neuter gender, see e.g. Antiozonant.

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• -ans (rare, unproductive synonym from the same source)

Further reading

• “-ant” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “-ant” in Duden online

Hungarian

Etymology

From -a- (linking vowel) +‎ -n (instantaneous suffix) +‎ -t (causative suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -ɒnt

Suffix

-ant

1. (instantaneous suffix) Added to a stem - often an onomatopoeia - to form a verb expressing an instantaneous action.

   pillant (“to glance”)

Usage notes

• (instantaneous suffix) Variants:

  -ant is added to back-vowel words

  -ent is added to front-vowel words

Derived terms

See also

• -int
• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

References

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *-ānt, from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yónti.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ant/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ant/,

Suffix

-ant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of -ō (first conjugation)

Descendants

Middle French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Suffix

-ant

1. used to form the present participle of verbs

Old French

Etymology

From Latin -āns, -ēns.

Suffix

-ant

1. used to form the present participle of verbs

Related terms

• -ance/-anche

Descendants

• English: -ant
• French: -ant

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French -ant, from Old French -ant, from Latin -āns, -ēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ant/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant
• Syllabification: ant

Suffix

-ant m pers

1. -ant (agent noun derived from verb)

   ‎kurs + ‎-ant → ‎kursant

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• -ant in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ant/

Etymology 1

Cognate with Cornish -ans.

Alternative forms

• -iant

Suffix

-ant m (plural -annau)

1. show the action of a verb or its result, -tion, -ment

   ‎maddau (“to forgive”) + ‎-ant → ‎maddeuant (“forgiveness”)

Etymology 2

Suffix

-ant

1. (literary) verb suffix for the third-person plural present indicative/future

Derived terms