FromMiddle English-ent, also-ant,-aunt, etc., fromOld French-ent and its sourceLatin-ēns (accusative singular-entem), suffix of present participles of verbs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th conjugations.[1]
-ent
- Causing, doing, or promoting a certain action.
- One that causes, does, or promotes a certain action.
- William Dwight Whitney andBenjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “-ent”, inThe Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume II, New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC,page1944, column 3.
Derived fromLatin-ēns (accusative singular-entem).
-ent (adjective-forming suffix,feminine-enta,masculine plural-ents,feminine plural-entes)
- indicating a quality or state
- calent —hot
- absent —absent
- intelligent —intelligent
-ent m orfby sense (noun-forming suffix,plural-ents)
- referring to people doing something
- president —president
- dependent —clerk
-ent
- -ent(Latinate suffix forming nouns and adjectives)
Inherited fromLatin-entem. Mostly confined to learned formations; inherited words tend to use the spelling-ant.
-ent (adjective-forming suffix,feminine-ente,masculine plural-ents,feminine plural-entes)
- adjectival and nominal suffix
Inherited fromLatin-ant,-ent,-iunt.
- Generally silent. Before a vowel optionallyIPA(key): /t‿/.
-ent
- forms thethird-person pluralpresentindicative form of a verb
- Elles marchent. ―They walk.
- forms thethird-person pluralpresentsubjunctive form of a verb
From-e-(linking vowel) +-n(instantaneous suffix) +-t(causative suffix).[1]
-ent
- (instantaneous suffix)Added to a stem - often anonomatopoeia - to form averb expressing aninstantaneous action.
- tüsszent(“to sneeze”)
- (instantaneous suffix) Variants:
- -ant is added to back-vowel words
- -ent is added to front-vowel words
-ent
- third-personpluralpresentactivesubjunctive of-ō(first conjugation)
-ent
- (literary)verb suffix for thethird-personpluralimperfect/conditional
- (literary)verb suffix for thethird-personpluralimperative
