Ending of pr. pple. in northern dial., representing Old English -ende, early Middle English midl. and south. -ende, -inde, later Middle English and modern -ing; as in Old English wrítende, Middle English north. writand, early south. writende, -inde, later writinge, modern writing (thus identified with vbl. n. or gerund). In some north. dialects, the pple. and vbl. n. are still distinguished as -ănd, -ing, or at least -ăn', -in'. As ppl. adjs. from French ended in -ant, -aunt, these were often interchanged with -and in 15th c., as in semblant, sembland; amblant, ambland; cf. warrant, warrand; tyrant, tirrand; giant, gyand; merchant, marchand, and the like.

A formative element representing the termination -andus, -a, -um of the gerundive of Latin verbs in -āre. Examples of words in -and are analysand, confirmand, educand, graduand, multiplicand, operand, ordinand. The meaning of these words is passive, thus ordinand ‘person to be ordained’. This element has never been a living suffix, having no separate existence apart from the Latin gerundive form from which it is derived. The gerundial endings are sometimes retained in their Latin (neut.) form (with pl. -a), as in avizandum, memorandum, notandum.