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-oid



 
 
-oid is a suffix
Affix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivation , like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed....
 much used in the science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
s and mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 to indicate a "similarity, not necessarily exact, to something else". According to the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
, -oid is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 suffix -oides taken from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 and meaning "having the likeness of".

Thus, asteroid
Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids....
 means "like a star" and rhomboid
Rhomboid

In geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are oblique.A shape like a circle with sides of equal length is not a rhombus....
 means "like a rhombus". There are many examples of such words: android
Android

An android is a robot designed to look and act human. The word derives from a?d???, the genitive of the Greek language a??? aner, meaning "man", and the suffix -eides, used to mean "of the species; alike" ....
, anthropoid
Anthropoid

Anthropoid came from the Greek language for "of human likeness". In biology it is used interchangeably with simian to refer to a primate that is not a lemurid, lorisid, or tarsier....
, alkaloid
Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
, factoid
Factoid

A factoid is a spurious?unverified, incorrect, or fabricated?statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no wikt:Veracity. The word appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as "something which becomes accepted as fact, although it may not be true."...
, humanoid
Humanoid

A humanoid is a hybrid term formed from Latin humanus "human" and the Greek :wikt:-oid expressing likeness. The term was coined in 1918 to refer to fossils considered close to human but not strictly human, including species now classified as Homo such as the Neanderthals....
, planetoid, trapezoid
Trapezoid

In geometry, a trapezoid or trapezium is a quadrilateral with twoparallel sides. The term “trapezoid” is used in North America, while the term “trapezium” is prevalent in Britain....
 and so forth.

When noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
s formed using -oid are turned into adjective
Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntax role is to grammatical modifier a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition....
s, the suffix usually becomes -oidal.

New Oxford American Dictionary
New Oxford American Dictionary

The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of North American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....
 has:

-oid:






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Encyclopedia


-oid is a suffix
Affix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivation , like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed....
 much used in the science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
s and mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 to indicate a "similarity, not necessarily exact, to something else". According to the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
, -oid is derived from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 suffix -oides taken from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 and meaning "having the likeness of".

Thus, asteroid
Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids....
 means "like a star" and rhomboid
Rhomboid

In geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are oblique.A shape like a circle with sides of equal length is not a rhombus....
 means "like a rhombus". There are many examples of such words: android
Android

An android is a robot designed to look and act human. The word derives from a?d???, the genitive of the Greek language a??? aner, meaning "man", and the suffix -eides, used to mean "of the species; alike" ....
, anthropoid
Anthropoid

Anthropoid came from the Greek language for "of human likeness". In biology it is used interchangeably with simian to refer to a primate that is not a lemurid, lorisid, or tarsier....
, alkaloid
Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
, factoid
Factoid

A factoid is a spurious?unverified, incorrect, or fabricated?statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no wikt:Veracity. The word appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as "something which becomes accepted as fact, although it may not be true."...
, humanoid
Humanoid

A humanoid is a hybrid term formed from Latin humanus "human" and the Greek :wikt:-oid expressing likeness. The term was coined in 1918 to refer to fossils considered close to human but not strictly human, including species now classified as Homo such as the Neanderthals....
, planetoid, trapezoid
Trapezoid

In geometry, a trapezoid or trapezium is a quadrilateral with twoparallel sides. The term “trapezoid” is used in North America, while the term “trapezium” is prevalent in Britain....
 and so forth.

When noun
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
s formed using -oid are turned into adjective
Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntax role is to grammatical modifier a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's definition....
s, the suffix usually becomes -oidal.

New Oxford American Dictionary
New Oxford American Dictionary

The New Oxford American Dictionary is a single-volume dictionary of North American English compiled by American editors at the Oxford University Press....
 has:

-oid: suffix forming adjectives and nouns:
  1. Zoology
    Zoology

    Zoology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of animals. The most common pronunciation of "zoology" is ; however, an alternative pronunciation is ....
     denoting an animal
    Animal

    Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
     belonging to a higher taxon
    Taxon

    A taxon or taxonomic unit is a name designating an organism or a group of organisms. In biological nomenclature according to Carl Linnaeus, a taxon is assigned a taxonomic rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary relationships....
     with a name ending in -oidea: : hominoid | percoid.
  2. denoting form or resemblance : asteroid | rhomboid.
ORIGIN from modern Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 -oides, from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 -oeides; related to eidos ‘form.’