English Word Reference Free

itis

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "itis", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "itis" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "itis" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

-itis is aEnglishsuffix. It means: Denoting diseases characterized by inflammation, itself often caused by an infection. Pronounced /-ˈaɪtɪs/.

Compare similar words

See how -itis compares against similar English words.

Browse all word comparisons →
Key facts for -itis
PropertyValue
Headword-itis
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechSuffix
IPA/-ˈaɪtɪs/
Letters5
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

-itis is not present in the top-100,000 ranked English corpus, typical for technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary.

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for -itis is 5 letters long, classified as asuffix, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /-ˈaɪtɪs/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for -itis in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From New Latin -itis, from Ancient Greek -ῖτις (-îtis, “pertaining to”). This is the feminine form of adjectival suffix -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs). The English suffix derives from the feminine form due to its use with the feminine noun νόσος (nósos, “disease”), partic… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is -itis, spelled --I-T-I-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Denoting diseases characterized by inflammation, itself often caused by an infection.
  2. 2
    Used to form the names of various fictitious afflictions or diseases.

Etymology

From New Latin -itis, from Ancient Greek -ῖτις (-îtis, “pertaining to”). This is the feminine form of adjectival suffix -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs). The English suffix derives from the feminine form due to its use with the feminine noun νόσος (nósos, “disease”), particularly with ἀρθρῖτις (νόσος) (arthrîtis (nósos), “disease of the joints”) (one of the earliest English borrowings from which the suffix was extracted and abstracted). Adding "-itis" to the end of a word or phrase can give a humorous sense by generalization.

This word in other languages

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "-itis"?
"-itis" is spelled --I-T-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is /-ˈaɪtɪs/.
What does "-itis" mean?
As a suffix, "-itis" means: Denoting diseases characterized by inflammation, itself often caused by an infection.
How do you pronounce "-itis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "-itis" is /-ˈaɪtɪs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "-itis"?
From New Latin -itis, from Ancient Greek -ῖτις (-îtis, “pertaining to”). This is the feminine form of adjectival suffix -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs). The English suffix derives from the feminine form due to its use with the feminine noun νόσος (nósos, “disease... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter - in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.