-ite


Also found in: Medical.

-ite 1

suff.
1. Native or resident of: New Jerseyite.
2.
a. Descendant of: Levite.
b. Adherent or follower of: Luddite.
3. A part of an organ, body, or bodily part: somite.
4.
a. Rock; mineral: graphite.
b. Fossil: trilobite.
5.
a. Product: metabolite.
b. A commercial product: ebonite.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin -ītēs, -īta, from Greek -ītēs.]

-ite 2

suff.
A salt or ester of an acid named with an adjective ending in -ous: sulfite.
[Alteration of -ate.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-ite

suffix forming nouns
1. a native or inhabitant of: Israelite.
2. a follower or advocate of; a member or supporter of a group: Luddite; labourite.
3. (Biology) (in biology) indicating a division of a body or organ: somite.
4. (Geological Science) indicating a mineral or rock: nephrite; peridotite.
5. (Commerce) indicating a commercial product: vulcanite.
[via Latin -ita from Greek -itēs or directly from Greek]

-ite

suffix forming nouns
(Chemistry) indicating a salt or ester of an acid having a name ending in -ous: a nitrite is a salt of nitrous acid.
[from French, arbitrary alteration of -ate1]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

-ite1

,
a suffix of nouns denoting esp. persons associated with a place, tribe, leader, doctrine, system, etc. (Campbellite; Israelite; laborite); minerals and fossils (ammonite; anthracite); explosives (cordite; dynamite); chemical compounds, esp. salts of acids whose names end in -ous (phosphite; sulfite); pharmaceutical and commercial products (vulcanite); a member or component of a part of the body (somite).
[Middle English < Latin -ita < Greek -itēs; in some words representing French -ite, German -it, etc.]

-ite2

,
a suffix occurring orig. in loanwords form Latin, forming adjectives from nouns of Latin origin: ratite.
[< Latin -ītus orig. a past participle suffix]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

-ite

1. A suffix used to form the names of minerals, such as hematite and malachite.
2. A suffix used to form the name of a salt or ester of a specified acid whose name ends in -ous. Such salts or esters have one oxygen atom fewer than corresponding salts or esters with names ending in -ate. For example, a nitrite is a salt of nitrous acid and contains the group NO2, while a nitrate contains NO3. Compare -ate.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

-ite

n suf (= follower of) → -anhänger(in) m(f); Blairite → Blair-Anhänger(in) m(f)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007