-ite

¹

1. a suffix of nouns denoting especially persons associated with a place, tribe, leader, doctrine, system, etc. ( Campbellite; Israelite; laborite ); minerals and fossils ( ammonite; anthracite ); explosives ( cordite; dynamite ); chemical compounds, especially 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 ).

-ite

²

1. a suffix forming adjectives and nouns from adjectives, and from some verbs:

   composite; opposite; erudite; requisite.

-ite

¹

suffix forming nouns

1. a native or inhabitant of

   Israelite

2. a follower or advocate of; a member or supporter of a group

   labourite

   Luddite

3. (in biology) indicating a division of a body or organ

   somite

4. indicating a mineral or rock

   peridotite

   nephrite

5. indicating a commercial product

   vulcanite

-ite

²

suffix forming nouns

1. indicating a salt or ester of an acid having a name ending in -ous

   a nitrite is a salt of nitrous acid

–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 NO 2 , while a nitrate contains NO 3 .
3. Compare –ate

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ite¹

Middle English < Latin -ita < Greek -itēs; often directly < Greek; in some words representing French -ite, German -it, etc. < Latin < Greek, as above

Origin of -ite²

< Latin -itus or -ītus past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ite¹

via Latin -ita from Greek -itēs or directly from Greek

Origin of -ite²

from French, arbitrary alteration of -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Navy Fifth Fleet, close U.S. relations are a vital bulwark against Iran, a vast Muslim Shi'ite nation across the Gulf that Manama has long blamed for stirring up its own majority Shi'ite population against Bahrain's Sunni monarchy.

From Reuters

Yet Haniyeh, a Sunni Muslim, has had a major hand building up Hamas' fighting capacity, partly by nurturing relations with Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which makes no secret of its moral and material support for the group.

From Reuters

It said in a statement that the strikes were a violation of the advisory role of international forces in Iraq to fight the remnants of the Islamic State militant group - a coalition that a number of factions in Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim ruling coalition say they want ousted.

From Reuters

It said in a statement that the strikes were a violation of the advisory role of international forces in Iraq to fight the remnants of the Islamic State militant group - a coalition that a number of factions in Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim ruling coalition say they want ousted.

From Reuters

Yemen erupted in civil war after the Houthis, members of the Zaydi sect of Shi'ite Islam, seized the capital Sanaa in 2014.

From Reuters