The suffix -ty forms nouns from adjectives. The word subtlety, for example, means ?the quality or state of being subtle.? Subtlety comes from the Latin noun subtilitas, from the adjective subtilis (?subtle?) plus -tas, the ancestor of our suffixes -ty and -ity. Some other words that end in -ty are certainty, cruelty, frailty, loyalty, and royalty. In English the suffix -ity is now more common, as in eccentricity, electricity, technicality, peculiarity, and similarity. The suffixes -ty and -ity can be compared in meaning to the suffix -ness. Whereas -ty and -ity come from Latin, however, -ness comes from Old English.	1

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