-mento

Forms

-mento m (noun-forming suffix, plural -menti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin -mentum, a suffix of neuter nouns;^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Devoto–Oli dates it to Late Latin.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} In Latin it was an enlargement of -men (armāmentum, pulmentum), sometimes added to nouns (ātrāmentum).^[6] It comes from Proto-Italic *-məntom, from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom, an extension of *-mn̥.^[1]

The same suffix is French -ment, Friulian -ment, Sicilian -mentu, Aromanian -mintu and Romanian -mânt.^[1][7] In Vulgar Latin and Old French it came to form nouns of action, and English took it from French.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The suffix appears in nouns inherited or taken from Latin and has stayed productive, forming masculine nouns from verbs for an action, its effect or its result: movimento, sentimento, cambiamento, pagamento.^[8][2][5] The nouns are mostly abstract, but some have a collective sense (parlamento, abbigliamento).^[4] With verbs of the first conjugation the suffix follows the theme vowel -a- (-amento); with the others it takes -i- (-imento: ricevimento, stabilimento).^[5][9][1]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms masculine nouns from verbs naming the action or its effect or result: isolamento, radicamento, spostamento, nutrimento.^{[10][3][8][4]}

Related words

• -imento
• Latin -mentum
• French -ment

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio, Il Nuovo De Mauro, online ed., dizionario.internazionale.it
9. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse