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-ish

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-ish¹

  • /ɪʃ/ Australia, Canada, Scotland
  • /əʃ/ New Zealand
  • /iʃ/ India

Where it comes from

From Middle English -isch, -issh, from Old English -isċ (“-ish”, suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-isk, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz (“-ish”), from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos.

Cognate with Dutch -s; German -isch (whence Dutch -isch); Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish -isk or -sk; Lithuanian -iškas; Russian -ский (-skij); and the Ancient Greek diminutive suffix -ίσκος (-ískos). Doublet of -esque and -ski.

suffix

  1. morpheme, of adjectives from common nouns Typical of, similar to, being like. Her face had a girlish charm.

    Similar: quasi-, para-, -oid, -form, -iform, -esque, -ly, -some, -y, -ass, -like

  2. morpheme, of adjectives from adjectives, with a diminutive force Somewhat, rather. Her face had a bluish tinge.
  3. especially, morpheme, of adjectives from numbers, of times and ages About, approximately. We arrived at tennish. We arrived tennish.
  4. morpheme, of adjectives from roots of proper nouns denoting names of nations or regions Of, belonging, or relating to (a nationality, place, language or similar association with something). British, Cornish, Danish, English, Finnish, Irish, Jewish, Kentish, Polish, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish etc.

-ish²

Where it comes from

From Middle English -ishen, -ischen, -issen, from Old French -iss-, -is- (a termination of the stem of some forms [present participle, etc.] of certain verbs), from Latin -ēscere, -īscere (an inchoative suffix), the formative -esc-, -isc- (-sc-, Greek -σκ- (-sk-)) being ultimately cognate with English -ish (Etymology 1). See -esce, -escent, etc.

suffix

  1. idiomatic, morpheme An ending found on some verbs; see usage notes.

Translations

Every language

suffix appended to words

Español-ico, -iento
日本語っぽい ppoi
Português-ico
Deutsch-haft, -lich, -ig
Italiano-ico, -ica
Ελληνικά-ικός -ikós
Română-ic, -esc, -iu

suffix appended to adjectives

Español-ento, -oso
हिन्दीसा sā
Français-âtre, assez
Deutsch-lich
Română-iu, -ui
Русский-ва́тый -vátyj

suffix appended to numbers

Françaisenviron, à peu près, -aine
Deutschum ... herum, ca.

suffix appended to roots denoting names of nations or regions

Español-és, -esa
Português-ês, -esa, -eses, -esas
Français-ois, -oise, -ais, -aise, -ain, -aine
Deutsch-isch
Română-esc
Русский-ский -skij
العربيةـِيّ -iyy

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{ish_2026,
  title = {-ish},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-ish},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}