A Study of Differences between Adjective Suffixes-ic and -ical and Their Relevant Aspects
Chong Li · Journal of Jiangsu University · 2002
In modern English, there are many pairs of adjectives ending in ic and ical, some of which bear obvious differences in meaning and can't be used interchangeably. Generally speaking, the al in ical is dropping, which produces many pairs of adjectives ending in ic and ical that are identical in their meaning and interchangeable in use. In contemporary English, ic tends to be used as a componential part of words more frequently than ical, which embodies a type of development and change of English, that is, the dropping of word endings.