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Origin and history of -id

-id

adjectival word-forming element, especially in zoology, "belonging to, connected with, member of a group or class," in some cases probably via from French -ide, back-formed from Modern Latin names of zoological classes in -idae, as arachnid "a spider" from the biological class name arachnidae.

This -idae is the plural of Latin -ides, a masculine patronymic (indicating "descent from"), from Greek -ides "son of," denoting descent from the person to whose name it is attached (such as Heraklides).

In astronomy, of meteor showers, "having its radiant in" the constellation named (Perseid, Leonid, etc.), it probably represents Latin -idis, from Greek -idos, the genitive of the feminine form of the patronymic suffix.

Entries linking to -id

hero of the "Aeneid," son of Anchises and Aphrodite, Latin, from Greek Aineias, a name of unknown origin, perhaps literally "praise-worthy," from ainos "tale, story, saying, praise" (related to enigma); or perhaps related to ainos "horrible, terrible." The epic poem title Aeneid (late 15c. in English) is literally "of or pertaining to Aeneas," from French Enéide, Latin Æneida; see -id.

type of variable star, 1904, from Delta Cephi, the name of the first such star identified, which is in the constellation Cepheus. With -id.

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