-ical

suffix.
1 forming adjectives corresponding to nouns or adjectives, usu. in -ic (classical; comical; farcical; musical).
2 forming adjectives corresponding to nouns in -y (pathological).

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\\ə̇kəl, ēk-\ adjective suffix

Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin -icalis (as in clericalis clerical, grammaticalis grammatical, radicalis radical) — more at clerical, grammatical, radical

: -ic

cosmical

fantastical

— sometimes differing from -ic in that adjectives formed with -ical have a wider or more transferred semantic range than corresponding adjectives in -ic

economical: economic

prophetical: prophetic

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a combination of -ic and -al¹, used in forming adjectives from nouns (rhetorical), providing synonyms to words ending in -ic (poetical), and providing an adjective with additional meanings to those in the -ic form (economical).

[ME < L -icalis. See -IC, -AL¹]

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-ical /-i-kl/

adj sfx

A variant of ↑-ic, although not always giving an identical meaning (cf ↑economic and ↑economical)

ORIGIN: L -icalis

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-ical,

suffix.

1. -ic, as in geometrical, parasitical, hysterical.

2. -ic, but specialized or differentiated in meaning, as in economical.

3. -ic + -al or -ics + -al, as in critical, musical, ethical, statistical.

╂[< Late Latin -icālis < -icus ― ic + -ālis ― al¹]

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[ikəl]

suffix forming adjectives

1) corresponding to nouns or adjectives usually ending in -ic (such as comical corresponding to comic)

2) corresponding to nouns ending in -y (such as pathological corresponding to pathology)

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-ical ; (in adjectives)

•

comical

Main entry: ↑-ic_derived

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-ical

a compound suffix, f. -ic + -al¹, sometimes forming an adj. from a n. in -ic, as music, musical, but more frequently a secondary adj., as comic, comical, historic, historical. Its origin appears to have been the formation in late L. of adjs. in -ālis on ns. in -ic-us, or in -icē, e.g. grammatic-us grammarian, grammaticē grammar, grammatic⁓āl-is grammatical, clēricus clergyman, clerk, clēricāl-is clerical. So in med.L., chīrurgicāl-is, dominic-āl-is, medicāl-is, mūsicāl-is, physicāl-is. In French, adjs. of this type are few, and mostly taken directly from L. formations, as chirurgical, clérical, grammatical, médical, etc. But in English they are exceedingly numerous, existing not only in all cases in which the term in -ic is a n., but also as the direct representatives of L. adjs. in -icus, F. -ique. Thus we find before 1500 canonical, chirurgical, domestical, musical, philosophical, physical. Many adjs. have a form both in -ic and -ical, and in such cases that in -ical is usually the earlier and that more used. Often also the form in -ic is restricted to the sense ‘of’ or ‘of the nature of’ the subject in question, while that in -ical has wider or more transferred senses, including that of ‘practically connected’ or ‘dealing with’ the subject. Cf. ‘economic science’, ‘an economical wife’, ‘prophetic words’, ‘prophetical studies’, ‘a comic song’, ‘a comical incident’, ‘the tragic muse’, ‘his tragical fate’. A historic book is one mentioned or famous in history, a historical treatise contains or deals with history. But in many cases this distinction is, from the nature of the subject, difficult to maintain, or entirely inappreciable.

Adjectives of locality, nationality, and language, as Baltic, Arabic, Teutonic, and those of chemical and other technical nomenclature, as oxalic, ferric, pelagic, dactylic, hypnotic, megalithic, have usually no secondary form in -al.

Hence some derivative ns. in -icality, as technicality.