▪ I. -ode
formative suffix1, repr. Gr. -ώδης, -ώδες, adj.-ending = ‘like, of the nature of’, contracted from -οειδής = -ο- final of root or comb. vowel + -ειδής like; e.g. λιθώδης stony, σαρκώδης fleshy, ὑλώδης woody, ϕυλλώδης leaflike. Thence have been formed mod.L. ns. in -ōdium, Eng. -ode, in the sense of ‘something of the nature of’ that expressed by the first element. Examples: cladode, geode, phyllode, sarcode, staminode. (Not the same as -ode = Gr. ὁδός way, path, in anode, cathode, electrode, etc.)
▪ II. -ode, suffix2
formative element repr. Gr. ὁδός way, path, first used in anode, cathode, electrode, and later in the names of thermionic valves with a specified number of electrodes, as diode, triode, tetrode, etc. (with two, three, four electrodes); (certain of these latter—e.g. diode, hexode—were orig. coined directly from the Gr. to describe forms of multiplex telegraphy).