Word.ws English Dictionary

-ite

UK/-aɪt/

-ite suffix: used to form nouns denoting followers or adherents of a specified person, idea, doctrine, movement, etc.

Suffix (1)

-ite (plural -ites)

  1. (derogatory, sometimes) Used to form nouns denoting followers or adherents of a specified person, idea, doctrine, movement, etc.
    • Adamsite, Campbellite, Jacobite, laborite, Mansonite, Reaganite, Thatcherite
  2. Used to form nouns denoting descendants of a specified historical person, especially a biblical figure.
    • Cainite, Ephraimite, Hamite, Japhetite, Lamanite
    • There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.1830, Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon, translation of original by Mormon, 4 Nephi 1:17
  3. (India, US) Used to form demonyms.
    • Brooklynite, Delhiite, Jerusalemite, Keralite, Kilgoreite, New Jerseyite, Seattleite, Seoulite, Sydneyite, Wisconsinite, Wyomingite; also see ashramite, hostelite
  4. Used to form nouns denoting rocks or minerals.
    • andalusite, anorthosite, anthracite, erythrite, forsterite, graphite, hawleyite, titanite
  5. Used to form nouns denoting fossil organisms.
    • ammonite, belemnite
  6. Used to form nouns denoting segments or components of the body or an organ of the body.
    • dendrite, somite
  7. Used to form nouns denoting the product of a specified process or a commercially manufactured product.
    • Bakelite, cordite, dynamite, ebonite, metabolite, vulcanite
  8. Used to form names of certain chemical compounds, especially salts or esters of acids whose name ends in -ous.
    • bromite, chlorite, iodite, phosphite, sulfite
  9. (rare) Used to form nouns for kinds, mostly from bases of Ancient Greek origin.
    • sporozoite, epizoite, troglobite, lychnobite

Suffix (2)

-ite

  1. Forms adjectives.

Forms of -ite

plural-ites

Origin of -ite

From French -ite, from Old French, from Latin -ītēs, from Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs).

From Latin past participles in -ītus, of verbs in -īre, -ĕre, -ēre, partly via Old French.

Questions about -ite

What does -ite mean?
-ite means used to form nouns denoting followers or adherents of a specified person, idea, doctrine, movement, etc.
What part of speech is -ite?
-ite is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -ite?
-ite is pronounced /-aɪt/ (UK).

Words near -ite in the dictionary

  1. -istics
  2. -ists
  3. -isy
  4. -itan
  5. -itate
  6. -ite
  7. -ites
  8. -itic
  9. -itides
  10. -ities
  11. -ition

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -ite (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame--ite.wav.

Cite this entry: “-ite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-ite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.