-ait
French, suffix
-ait is spelled A-I-T (3 letters) and appears 151 times per million words in written French, the 542nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). -ait is a French suffix meaning “forms the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of a verb” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, ait is a different word: “third-person singular present subjunctive of avoir”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Suffixe servant à former la troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif d’un verbe”.
What does -ait mean in English?
suffix
- 1
forms the third-person singular imperfect indicative form of a verb
verb
- 1
third-person singular present subjunctive of avoir
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Accident ischémique transitoire ^([1]).
noun: 1. Association internationale des travailleurs, ancienne organisation ouvrière.
suffix: 1. Suffixe servant à former la troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif d’un verbe.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
How common is -ait in French?
-ait appears 151 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).