-ine

/-aɪ̯n//-in//-ɪn//-ən/

suffix

Of or pertaining to.

“asinine, marine, bovine, cervine”

Similar
-a-ess-ette-ina-ressshe--trix
Opposite
he-
OriginMiddle English -in ← Old French -in ← Latin -īnus →
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Meanings

-ine1

suffix
  1. idiomaticOf or pertaining to.

    asinine, marine, bovine, cervine

  2. Used to form demonyms.

    Levantine, Byzantine, Argentine, Florentine

  3. chemistryUsed to form names of chemical substances, especially basic (alkaline) substances, alkaloidal substances, or halogen elements.

    amine, aniline, caffeine, iodine

  4. anthropologyused to form vernacular nouns and adjectives relating to hominoid genera

    australopithecine, dryopithecine, pithecanthropine

  5. Commercial materials.

    glass + -ine → glassine

-ine2

suffix
  1. idiomaticUsed to form feminine nouns.

    hero + -ine → heroine

    2 more examples

    speaker + -ine → speakerine

    Paul + -ine → Pauline

    Synonyms: -a, -ess, -ette, -ina, -ress, she-, -trix · Antonyms: he-

  2. idiomaticUsed to form female given names or names of titles.

    Clement + -ine → Clementine

    1 more example

    landgrave + -ine → landgravine

-ine3

suffix
  1. Found in the plural forms of a small number of English words. Not productive.

    cow + -ine → kine

    1 more example

    sow + -ine → swine

-ine4

suffix
  1. biologyused to form vernacular nouns and adjectives relating to animal taxonomic subfamilies

    cardueline, velociraptorine

Synonyms & antonyms

suffixUsed to form feminine nouns.

Similar
-a-ess-ette-ina-ressshe--trix
Opposite
he-
Also see
-a-ess-ette-ina-ressshe--trix

Origin

-ine · suffix

  1. Proto-Indo-European*-iHnos
  2. Latin-īnus
  3. Old French-in
  4. Middle English-in
  5. English-ine

From Middle English -in, -ine, from Old French -in, -ine, from Latin -īnus, from Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos. More at -en § Etymology 4.

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

-ine · suffix

  1. Latin-īna
  2. French-ine
  3. English-ine

From French -ine, feminine of -in; Latin -īna, feminine of -īnus. Doublet of -ina.

More words from French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

-ine · suffix

Variant of -en § Etymology 2.

Full word history & related roots →

-ine · suffix

From taxonomic suffix -inae, ultimately from the same root as § Etymology 1.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian -ин
  • -ин (-in)used to form names of chemical substances
Catalan -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Danish -in
  • -inused to form names of chemical substances
Finnish -iini
  • -iiniused to form names of chemical substances
German -in
  • -inused to form names of chemical substances
Indonesian -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Italian -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Malay -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Polish -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Portuguese -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Spanish -ina
  • -inaused to form names of chemical substances
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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