Gr aklinēs < a-, not + klinein, to incline (see lean1) + -ic
aclinic line in American English
(eiˈklɪnɪk)
noun
an imaginary line on the surface of the earth, close and approximately parallel to the equator, connecting all those points over which a magnetic needle shows no inclination from the horizontal
Also called: magnetic equator
Word origin
[1840–50; ‹ Gk aklin(e᷄s) not bending (a-a-6 + klin-, var. s. of kli᷇nein to bend) + -ic]This word is first recorded in the period 1840–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: creationism, plaque, pylon, sensationalism, set piece-ic is a suffix forming adjectives from other parts of speech, occurring originally inGreek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public) and, on this model, used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular senses“having some characteristics of” (opposed to the simple attributive use of the basenoun) (balletic; sophomoric); “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic); “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic)