-ant

/ənt/India/enʈ/India[ë̞ɳʈ]

suffix

The agent noun derived from verb.

“err → errant”

OriginMiddle English -ant ← Old French -ant ← Latin -āns →
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Meanings

suffix
  1. medicineThe 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)".

    err → errant

    1 more example

    ascend → ascendant

  4. alternativeAlternative form of -and.

    blatant, blicant; flippant, old-farrant

Origin

  1. Old English-ende
  2. Middle English-ant
  3. Latin-āns
  4. Old French-ant
  5. Middle English-ant
  6. English-ant

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. False cognate of Malay and Indonesian -an (and so all its Austronesian cognates), and Arabic ان (“adjective forming suffix”).

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

-ent
Cite this entry
APA

-ant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ant

MLA

“-ant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ant. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ant,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ant.

Source: -ant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.