IA or Ia.abbr. IowaAmerican 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.-ia an ending of nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin, or coined in English or other languages on a Latin model, that denote esp. places (Ethiopia; Georgia; Liberia), states or conditions, esp. physical disorders (inertia; insomnia; leukemia; phobia), or plants (fuchsia; zinnia); also occurring in other nouns, often orig. or still plural (bacteria; genitalia; insignia; media) or collective (academia; militia). The ending -ia has limited productivity as an English suffix, forming names of disorders ( hypoxia) or plural or collective nouns ( militaria; psychedelia; suburbia). Compare -y 2 . [