monosyllabic adj.

"a word of one syllable," 1530s, from Latin monosyllabus "of one syllable," from Greek monosyllabos, from monos "single, alone" (from PIE root *men- (4) "small, isolated") + syllabē "syllable" (see syllable). That the oldest words in English tended to be monosyllables was noted from 16c.

Middle English -ik, -ick, word-forming element making adjectives, "having to do with, having the nature of, being, made of, caused by, similar to," from French -ique and directly from Latin -icus or from cognate Greek -ikos "in the manner of; pertaining to." From PIE adjective suffix *-(i)ko, which also yielded Slavic -isku, adjectival suffix indicating origin, the source of the -sky (Russian -skii) in many surnames. In chemistry, indicating a higher valence than names in -ous (first in benzoic, 1791).

In Middle English and after often spelled -ick, -ike, -ique. Variant forms in -ick (critick, ethick) were common in early Modern English and survived in English dictionaries into early 19c. This spelling was supported by Johnson but opposed by Webster, who prevailed.