| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024-ical, suffix. - -ical, a combination of -icand-al1, is attached to roots to form adjectives with the meaning "of or relating to'':rhetor- + -ical → rhetorical.This suffix originally provided synonyms to adjectives that ended in -ic:poet + -ic → poetic;
poet + -ical → poetical. But some of these pairs of words or formations are now different in meaning:econom- + -ic → economic (= of or relating to economics); histor- + -ic → historic (= having a long history;important);histor- + -ical → historical (= happening in the past).
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024-ical, - a combination of -ic and -al 1, 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).
- Latin -icālis. See -ic, -al1
- Middle English
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: -ical suffix forming adjectives - a variant of -ic: economical, fanatical
Etymology: from Latin -icālis-ically suffix forming adverbs |