Word origin
[‹ NL (1789), equiv. to Gk
phákel(
os) bundle (referring to the clustered flowers) + NL
-ia -ia]-ia is a noun suffix having restricted application in various fields, as in names ofdiseases (malaria; anemia), place names (Italia; Romania), names of Roman feasts (Lupercalia), Latin or Latinizing plurals (Amphibia; insignia; Reptilia), and in other loanwords from Latin (militia)