The suffix -esis denotes which meaning?

• A. Condition of
• B. Pertaining to
• C. Process
• D. Abnormal condition

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that the suffix -esis signals a process or action—the ongoing activity or the result of a process described by the root it's attached to. It turns a verb or stem into a noun that names that activity. For example, emesis refers to the act of vomiting. So -esis is about the process, not a descriptor like “pertaining to” or a condition as a disease state. (A closely related suffix, -osis, often refers to a condition or disease state rather than the process itself.)