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-ii. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-ii, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-ii in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-ii you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From rebracketing of plural forms like radii (plural of radius), borrowed from Latin. Latin forms the nominative plural of second-declension nouns by replacing -us with -ī, which results in plural forms that end in -iī for nouns with singulars ending in -ius. Some English speakers occasionally extend -ii to form nonstandard plural forms of English nouns that end simply with the letters -us or with other letter sequences with a similar pronunciation (such as -is /ɪs/).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (variously) /aɪ/, /i.aɪ/, /iː/
Suffix
-ii
- Misspelling of -i.
- Used to form nonstandard, uncommon, often humorous alternative plural forms of nouns that end in -us, -is or a similar sound.
- Examples:
- Elvis + -ii → Elvii
- penis + -ii → penii
- virus + -ii → virii
- walrus + -ii → walrii
- fetus + -ii → fetii
- stewardess + -ii → stewardii
- Airbus + -ii → Airbii
Usage notes
- All such forms are nonstandard, and therefore may be proscribed.
- For certain forms, such as cactii, a standard spelling with -i (cacti) exists; in this case, the -ii spelling may be simply a misspelling of the -i form.
- Other innovative plurals in -ii, such as stewardii, bear no resemblance to any standard plural form of the word; these may be used as intentionally nonstandard forms, often for the sake of humor. Compare the (often humorous) intentional use of nonstandard plural forms in -en.
Italian
Etymology
From Latin -īvī (via -īī).[1]
Example: Italian finii, from Latin finivi.
Suffix
-ii (non-lemma form of verb-forming suffix)
- used with a stem to form the first-person singular past historic of regular -ire verbs
References
- ^ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, →ISBN, page 145
Latin
Suffix
-iī
- inflection of -ius:
- nominative/vocative masculine plural
- genitive masculine/neuter singular
Navajo
Suffix
-ii
- nominalizer, creating agentive nouns from verbs and adjectives: "that which [verbs]", or "that which [is of adjective quality]"; compare English -er
Usage notes
Example: from the verb hataał (“he sings”) + -ii, we can make a noun for hataałii (“singer”)
Derived terms
See also
Phalura
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
Suffix
-ii
- Genitive suffix
- -íi (With accent-shifting nouns)
- -e (Biori)
- -í (With accent-shifting nouns in Biori)
References
- Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “-ii”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7), Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN