French has two words for each of the following: year, day, morning, and evening, and they cause no end of difficulties for non-native speakers. Why is it that English can get away with one word when French needs two? The answer lies in how you look at these temporal markers.
Approximate numbers are very useful for talking about generalities, making estimates, and just flat-out guessing. English only has one approximate number, content to use "about" in front of cardinal numbers any time a guess is required. In contrast, French has about a dozen approximate numbers.
Unlike other French suffixes, -ci does not create new words, but rather adds additional meaning to the nouns and pronouns it's attached to. 
