ont-

¹

1. variant of onto- before a vowel.

-ont

²

1. a combining form meaning “being,” used in the formation of compound words:

   diplont,

   haplont.

Ont.

³

abbreviation for

1. Ontario.

Ont.

abbreviation for

1. Ontario

Word History and Origins

Origin of ont-¹

< Greek -ont stem of ṓn “being,” present participle of eînai “to be” ( onto- ( def ) )

Example Sentences

Proponents of involuntary treatments, like Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., claim “the old approach isn’t working.”

From Salon

Lavallee said a CC-130H Hercules aircraft travelled to the site from Calgary, Alberta and a CC-130J Hercules was sent from Trenton, Ont.

From Seattle Times

The jury also convicted Nathaniel Veltman, 22, guilty of one count of attempted murder for injuring a fifth family member in the incident in London, Ont.

From Seattle Times

Two days after Amazon Prime Day, a group of over 60 Palmdale Amazon contract drivers, backed by Teamsters and community members, picketed outside Amazon’s ONT 5 warehouse, blocking trucks from entering or leaving the San Bernardino facility.

From Los Angeles Times

Ontario International in San Bernardino County — forgot about that one, didn’t you? — is century-aged too, and ONT earned its international status thanks to flights to and from Taipei.

From Los Angeles Times

Words That Use Ont-

What does ont- mean?

Ont- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “being.” It is occasionally used in technical terms, especially in philosophy.

The form ont- comes from Greek ṓn, meaning “being.” The Latin equivalents are ēns, ent- and essent- “being,” which are the sources of entity and essence.

Ont- is a variant of onto-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. When used as a suffix at the end of a word, ont- becomes -ont, as in diplont. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for onto- and -ont.

Examples of ont-

A technical term from philosophy that features the form ont- is ontic, “possessing the character of real rather than phenomenal existence; noumenal.”

The first part of the word, ont-, means “being.” The suffix -ic has a variety of meanings, including “having some characteristics of.” Ontic literally translates to “having some characteristics of being.”

What are some words that use the combining form ont-?

• ontal
• ontically

What are some other forms that ont- may be commonly confused with?

• onco-
• oneiro-
• oto-
• -on
• -ton

Break it down!

The suffix -ically is used to form adverbs. With this in mind, where would you put ontically in the following sentence?