-anesuff. A saturated hydrocarbon: hexane.[Variant of -ene, -ine, and -one.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.-ane suffix forming nouns (Chemistry) indicating an alkane hydrocarbon: hexane. [coined to replace -ene, -ine, and -one]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014ane (e?n) adj., n., pron. Chiefly Scot. one. [1350?1400] -ane a suffix used in names of hydrocarbons of the methane or paraffin series: propane. [