-ar¹

Forming adjectives.

Latin adjectival ending ‑aris.

Latin word stems that ended in l employed ‑aris to make their adjectives rather than ‑alis, the source of our ‑al¹ suffix. As a result, the majority of adjectives in ‑ar in English have l or ul before the suffix, such as angular, circular, familiar, globular, jocular, polar, regular, similar, singular, and vulgar (see also ‑ule). Other English adjectives derived from Latin words ending in ‑aris include columnar, linear, lumbar, lunar, planar, and stellar. Some English adjectives have been formed using ‑ar that do not have Latin originals in ‑aris, often being based instead on Latin nouns in ‑um: curricular, granular, molecular, nuclear, scapular. See also ‑ary².