Ohioan

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A native or resident of the state of Ohio
2. Someone who was born in or lives in Ohio
3. A person belonging to or originating from Ohio

Etymology: Ohioan is a plain formation: the name of the state Ohio plus the suffix "-an," meaning a person or thing connected with that place. The suffix has a long road into English. It descends from a Proto-Italic ending "-ānos," passed through Latin "-ānus" and Old French "-ain," and reached English in Middle English as "-an." English then attached it to countless place names, from "Roman" to "Lutheran" to "Ohioan." The place name itself has an older origin. "Ohio" is borrowed from the Seneca "ohi꞉yo꞉h," a word meaning something like "great river" or "good river," and the English name was applied to the river and later to the state. So the word carries a Native American name through an English place name and a Latin-derived suffix that travelled through French before it reached English.