-ite²

Also ‑it.

Forming adjectives, nouns, and verbs.

Latin ‑itus, past participle of verbs ending in ‑ere and ‑ire.

Such words have nothing in common except their source. Adjectives include composite, contrite, definite, erudite, exquisite, favourite, finite, opposite, polite, and requisite. Some of these can also be nouns, and a few others are wholly or mainly so: appetite, requisite. Others are verbs: expedite, ignite, unite. Some have lost the final e: circuit, elicit, implicit, solicit.

By no means all words in ‑ite have this Latin origin. Most short words, such as smite and write, are of Germanic origin; hypocrite and parasite are from Greek; others, such as respite and satellite, come from different Latin sources.