-ical
Also found in: Medical.
-ical
suffix forming adjectives
[from Latin -icālis]
-ically suffix forming adverbs
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
-ic
1. a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring orig. in Greek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses “having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic).
2. a suffix, specialized in opposition to -ous, used to show the higher of two valences: ferric chloride.
3. a noun suffix occurring in loanwords from Greek, where such words were orig. adjectival (critic; magic; music).
[Middle English -ic, -ik < Latin -icus or Greek -ikos]
IC
1. immediate constituent.
2. integrated circuit.
3. intensive care.
I.C.
Jesus Christ.
[< Late Latin I(ēsus)C(hrīstus)]
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