| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
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| § 37. -oid |
| The basic meaning of the suffix -oid is “like” or “resembling.” Words ending in -oid are generally adjectives but can also be nouns. Thus humanoid means “having human characteristics or form” (adjective sense) or “a being having human form” (noun sense). Nouns ending in -oid form adjectives by adding the suffix -al: spheroid, spheroidal; trapezoid, trapezoidal. The suffix -oid comes from the Greek suffix -oeides, from eidos, meaning “shape, form.” | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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