-ence

suffix forming nouns expressing:
1 a quality or state or an instance of one (patience; an impertinence).
2 an action (reference; reminiscence).
Etymology: from or after F -ence f. L -entia, -antia (cf. -ANCE) f. pres. part. stem -ent-, -ant-

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\\ən(t)s, ^ən(t)s, in some words “ or -ˌen(t)s; “-erence” is often ərn(t)s\ noun suffix (-s)

Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin -entia, from -ent-, -ens -ent + -ia -y

1. : action or process

abstinence

emergence

confluence

: instance of an action or process

reference

reminiscence

2. : quality or state

condescendence

dependence

: one having a (specified) quality or being in a (specified) state

standing on an eminence

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a noun suffix equivalent to -ance, corresponding to the suffix -ent in adjectives: abstinence; continence; dependence; difference.

[ME < OF < L -entia, equiv. to -ent- -ENT + -ia -Y³]

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-ence,

suffix forming nouns chiefly from verbs.

1. added to verbs the act or fact of _____ing: »

Abhorrence = the act or fact of abhorring. Dependence = the act or fact of depending.

2. added to adjectives ending in -ent the quality or condition of being _____ent: »

Prudence = the quality of being prudent. Absence = the state of being absent.

╂[< Old French -ence< Latin -entia, < -ent-, present participle stem + -ia, a noun suffix]

Usage -ence is the noun suffix often corresponding to the adjective suffix -ent. See also -ency. (Cf. ↑-ency)

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[əns; ns]

suffix forming nouns

1) denoting a quality or an instance of it

impertinence

2) denoting an action or its result

reference | reminiscence

•

Origin:

from French -ence, from Latin -entia, -antia (from present participial stems -ent-, -ant-). Since the 16th cent. many inconsistencies have occurred in the use of -ence and -ance

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/əns/ noun suffix

1 : the state of having a particular quality

confidence

dependence

despondence

2 : the action or process of doing something

emergence

reference

reminiscence

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-ence [-ence] ;

» ↑-ance

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-ence suffix

a. Fr. -ence, ad. L. -entia, forming abstr. ns., usually of quality, rarely of action, on ppl. stems in -ent-, e.g. sapient-em knowing, sapient-ia knowingness, sapience; audient-em hearing, audient-ia the process of hearing, audience. As the ppl. stem had -ent-, -ant-, the derivative ns. had -entia (prūdentia), -antia (īnfantia); but all these were levelled in OFr. to -ance, in words that survived in popular use, or were formed analogically on the pr. pple. in -ant; as aidance, assistance, complaisance, contenance, nuisance, parlance, séance. These were ns. of action or process, the value with which the suffix was retained in Fr. as a living formative. But subsequently other L. words in -ntia, which had not survived in the living language, were readopted on the analogy of these, but with -ence or -ance according to the L. vowel, e.g. absence, clémence, diligence, élégance, présence, providence, prudence, tempérance, violence. These were ns. of quality or state; all Fr. words in -ence are of this class. Both classes were adodpted in ME. in their actual Fr. forms and senses, which they generally still retain; but since 1500, some of those in -ance have been altered back to -ence after L. All words since adopted from or formed on L., follow L. precedent as to -ence or -ance. The result is that the modern spelling of individual words, and still more of groups of cogn. words, is uncertain and discordant; cf. assistance, consistence, existence, resistance, subsistence; attendance, superintendence; ascendant, -ent, -ancy, -ency, condescendence; dependant, -ent, -ance, -ence, independence; appearance, apparent; pertinence, appurtenance. In sense, words in -nce are partly nouns of action, as in OFr., partly of state or quality, as in L. The latter idea is more distinctly expressed by the variant -ncy (see -y = -ie:—-ia) which has been formed in Eng. as a direct adaptation of L. -ntia; see -ency, -ancy.