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-es

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-es¹

  • /-ɪz/
  • /-əz/
  • /-z/
  • /-iːz/ US, sometimes

Where it comes from

From Middle English -es, from Old English -as. More at -s.

suffix

  1. morpheme ch, when pronounced as /tʃ/: glitch→glitches (but psych→psychs)
  2. morpheme j: hajj→hajjes (j is only final in loan words raj, hajj)
  3. morpheme s: bus→buses, Jones → Joneses; yes → yeses.
  4. morpheme x: box→boxes
  5. morpheme z: buzz → buzzes, waltz → waltzes
  6. morpheme sh: ash→ashes
  7. morpheme Used to form the regular plural of nouns that end in a consonant (or qu) + y lady→ladies, soliloquy→soliloquies (but key→keys)
  8. morpheme Used to form the plural of some nouns that end in a consonant + o tomato→tomatoes (but soprano→sopranos)
  9. dialectal, morpheme Used to form the regular plural of nouns that end in /sp/, /st/, /sk/ post→postes /ˈpəʊstɪz/, /ˈpoʊstɪz/ (standard posts)

-es²

  • /-ɪz/
  • /-əz/
  • /-z/
  • /-iːz/ US, sometimes

Where it comes from

From Middle English -es, -is, from Old English -es, -as, Northern variants of -est, -ast (second person singular indicative ending). Replaced Middle English -eth, from Old English -eþ, -aþ. The falling together of the second and third person singular verb forms in Old English is believed to be due to Scandinavian influence, where the employment of the same verbal endings for both 2nd and 3rd singular indicative follows a similar pattern to that seen in Old Norse (e.g. þú masar, hann masar; þú þekkir, hann þekkir; etc.).

suffix

  1. morpheme that end in (t)ch pronounced as /tʃ/: impeach→impeaches (but psych→psychs)
  2. morpheme that end in (s)s: miss → misses, yes → yesses; bus → buses; buss → busses
  3. morpheme that end in x: tax → taxes
  4. morpheme that end in (z)z: fizz→fizzes
  5. morpheme that end in consonant + o in some cases: go→goes (but radio→radios)
  6. morpheme that end in sh: wish→wishes
  7. morpheme that end in consonant (or qu) + y: cry→cries (but buy→buys)

-es³

  • /-ɪz/
  • /-əz/
  • /-z/
  • /-iːz/ US, sometimes

Where it comes from

See -s, -'s.

suffix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme, obsolete Possessive marker; see -s, -'s. ... whereupon king Henry his sonne, as it may appeare by the later clause of this chapter, recouered diuers eschet[s] of lande within this Realme holden by Normans, whiche after they began to adhere to the French king, the kinges enimy[…]

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MLA

"-es." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/-es. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

-es. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/-es

Chicago

"-es." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/-es.

BibTeX
@misc{es_2026,
  title = {-es},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-es},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}