-ian +

(Latin: suffix form of -an from -ianus, a modifier of the main word to which it is attached: belonging to, coming from, being involved in, or being like something )

Appearing in such words as comedian, egalitarian, Bostonian, Italian, Smithsonian, mathematician, Alabamian, Californian, Arizonian, and Canadian. It is attached to the root of common or proper nouns with the meanings "of, pertaining to, from", or "like" the proper name appearing in the stem.

—Based on information from The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology,
Edited by Robert K. Barnhart, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.


median
1. In statistics, a quantity, term, or value that is the midpoint of a set of values; such that the variable has an equal probability of falling above or below it.
2. The middle term of a discrete series arranged in order of magnitude; or, if there is no middle term, the mean of the middle two terms.
3. Situated in a middle or intermediate position; middle; intermediate; neutral.
4. In anatomy, zoology, and botany; in the middle of a body, part, or organ; central, between others; specifically, designating structures in the middle of the anterior aspect of the human forearm.
5. Situated in or directed towards the median plane of a body, organ, or limb.
6. In surgery, designating a surgical incision or procedure made through the midline of the body or over or through the midline of a tumor, organ, etc.
mortician
One who arranges and manages funerals; an undertaker who is trained to care for the dead.
octogenarian
1. A person who is in her/his eighties.
2. A person who is eighty to eighty-nines years old.
ophidian
1. Snake like.
2. A snake.
patrician
1. In ancient Rome; originally, a member of any of the ancient Roman citizen families; later, a member of the nobility; the opposite of plebeian.
2. A person of high rank in some medieval Italian republics and in certain free cities of the German Empire.
3. Any person of high social rank; aristocrat.
pedarian
Applied to Roman senators of an inferior grade, who had no vote of their own, but could merely signify their assent to that of another; pedarii senatores.

In antiquity, those senators who signified their votes by their feet, not their tongues; that is, such as who walked over to the side of those whose opinion they approved of, in divisions of the house.

pedestrian
1. On foot, going or walking on foot; performed on foot; of or pertaining to walking.
2. Representing a person on foot, as distinguished from equestrian.
3. Applied to plain prose as opposed to verse, or to verse of prosaic character; hence, prosaic, commonplace, dull, uninspired; colloquial, vulgar.
physiatrician
A physician who specializes in physiatry (rehabilitation medicine).
physician
1. Someone who is qualified and licensed to practice medicine; a medical doctor.
2. A doctor who practices general medicine with diagnoses and treatments of diseases and injuries using methods other than surgery.
3. A person who heals or exerts a healing influence.
piscitarian
A fish monger or one who sells fish.
planetarian
1. Belonging to or connected with a planet or planets; planetary.
2. An astrologer.
3. An inhabitant of a planet.
platitudinarianism
A condition in which a person is characterized by platitudes; that is, addicted to the use of platitudes or pointless, unoriginal, or empty comments or statements made as though they were significant or helpful.
plebian
1. Belonging to, or pertaining to, the common people.
2. A reference to, or belonging to, the ancient Roman plebs.
3. Common, commonplace, or vulgar; such as, a plebeian joke.
politician
1. A person who is active in party politics.
2. A seeker or holder of public office, who is too often more concerned about winning favor or retaining power than about maintaining principles.
A political war is one in which everyone shoots from the lip.
—Raymond Morley
proletarian
1. Of or pertaining to the lowest class of the people.
2. Of or pertaining to the proletariat in the modern sense; such as, the proletarian revolution or the stage of political development predicted by Karl Marx when he said the proletarians would overthrow capitalism.
3. A member of the poorest class of a community; especially, one who is without capital or regular employment; one of the proletariat.

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