"Oceanic" and the adjective ending -ic

Question

Maxwell, from Nigeria, asked about the meaning of the adjective oceanic.

Answer

Ocean means “in, from, or closely related to the ocean.” For example, oceanic birds are birds that live near the ocean.

The adjective ending –ic
As you probably noticed, oceanic is made from the noun ocean, followed by the adjective ending –ic.

Many adjectives are formed this way, and knowing this can help you guess the meaning of a new word. When you see an adjective formed from a noun + ic, you can guess that the meaning is related to the meaning of the noun. Sometimes the relationship between the noun and the adjective is very close, as with these words:

• artistic     (means "relating to art or artists")
• historic    (means "relating to history or the past")
• magnetic  (means "relating to a magnet or magnetism")

And sometimes the meaning of the adjective has a somewhat different meaning from the noun, as with these words:

• fantastic   (from the noun fantasy; now used to mean "extremely good")
• scenic      (from the noun scene; now used to mean "having or relating to a beautiful view")
• gothic      (from the noun Goth; now used to describe both a 19th century style of literature and a 20th century style of music and clothing)