1.
suffix forming nouns meaning 'a person or thing connected with':
1. in names of persons: a as natives of a country (Israelite). b often derog. as followers of a movement etc. (pre-Raphaelite; Trotskyite).
2 in names of things: a fossil organisms (ammonite). b minerals (graphite). c constituent parts of a body or organ (somite). d explosives (dynamite). e commercial products (ebonite; vulcanite). f salts of acids having names in - ous (nitrite; sulphite).
Etymology: from or after F -ite f. L -ita f. Gk -ites 2.
suffix.
1. forming adjectives (erudite; favourite).
2 forming nouns (appetite).
3 forming verbs (expedite; unite).
Etymology: from or after L -itus past part. of verbs in -ere, -ere, and -ire