-faction

The act of creating something, or (more broadly) any process involving the specified thing.

Suffix

  1. The act of creating something, or (more broadly) any process involving the specified thing.
    • lith- (“stone”) + -i- + -faction → lithifaction (“the compaction and cementation of sediment into rock”)
    • aer- (“air”) + -i- + -faction → aerifaction (“aeration, hyperinflation of the lungs”)

Origin

Borrowed from French -faction, from Latin -factiō. This is the ending that arises when forming action nouns using -tiō (equivalent to English -tion) from compound verbs ending in -faciō (“to make, to do”), which carry a causative meaning. For example, liqueō (“to be liquid”) + faciō > liquefaciō (“to make (something) liquid”) > liquefactiō > English liquefaction. The suffix was later applied to other Latin stems where no Latin verb in -faciō existed (e.g. lubrifaction) and, eventually, even more freely (but see usage notes). Compare -ification and -ication.

Derived

benefaction dissatisfaction labefaction liquefaction olfaction petrifaction putrefaction rarefaction satisfaction self-satisfaction stupefaction tepefaction torrefaction tumefaction