-ame

Forms

-ame m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ami)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin -āmen, an extended form of -men.^[2][3][4][1] In Latin it formed abstract verbal nouns from verbs in ⟨-āre⟩, such as certāmen (“contest”) from certō (“to fight”) and spectāmen (“sight”) from spectō (“to look”).^[2][5][6] It later formed nouns of its own with a collective value, such as calceāmen (“footwear”) and laterāmen (“brickwork”).^[2][5] Italian widened this collective sense.^[4]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms collective nouns from nouns: bestiame, pollame, legname, pietrame, fogliame, vasellame, cascame.^{[2][5][3][4][6][1]}
2. Often with a pejorative colouring: professorame, culturame, contadiname.^[2][5][3][4]

Word family

• bestiame
• pollame
• legname
• pietrame
• fogliame
• vasellame
• cascame
• pelame
• ferrame
• scatolame
• culturame

Related words

• Latin -men

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)