Ality

/æˈlɪti/ noun

Definition

The quality or state of being something; a suffix meaning '-ness' or '-ity' (used in linguistics to describe abstract qualities).

Etymology

From Latin '-alitas,' the productive suffix for creating abstract nouns from adjectives. The term itself is used primarily in linguistic analysis to discuss suffix morphology.

Kelly Says

Linguists use 'ality' as a catch-all term when they're talking about how suffixes like '-ity,' '-ness,' and '-dom' turn descriptive words into abstract concepts—like 'honest' becomes 'honesty.'

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