-CY


Meaning of -CY in English

1. a suffix used to form abstract nouns from adjectives with stems in -t, -te, -tic, and esp. -nt ( democracy; accuracy; expediency; stagnancy; lunacy ), and sometimes used to form action nouns ( vacancy; occupancy ).

2. a suffix of nouns denoting rank or office, sometimes attached to the stem of a word rather than to the word itself: captaincy; magistracy.

[ repr. F -cie, -tie, L -cia, -tia, Gk -kia, -keia, -tia, -teia; in most cases to be analyzed as consonant + -Y 3 : the consonant making the whole or the last member of the preceding morpheme ]

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .