-alitysuffix
Primary stress is attracted to the first syllable of this suffix and vowels may be reduced accordingly; see e.g.
opticality n.Origin: Formed within English, by derivation; partly modelled on a French lexical item, and partly modelled on a Latin lexical item. Etymons: -al suffix1, -ity suffix.
Etymology: < -al suffix1 + -ity suffix, after Middle French -alité (in e.g. libéralité) and its etymon classical Latin -ālitāt-, -ālitās (in e.g. liberālitās liberality n.). Compare -alty suffix.Attested earliest in the 14th cent. in borrowings from French and Latin (e.g. principality n., morality n., liberality n.). Nouns formed within English by adding the suffix -ity suffix to adjectives in -al suffix1 are found from the 15th cent. (e.g. pontificality n., virginality n.). English formations without a corresponding earlier adjective in -al suffix1 are relatively rare; they are occasionally found in the 16th cent. (e.g. poorality n.) and are apparently most common in the 17th cent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2021).