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-ish

suffix
/ɪʃ/CA/əʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English -ish, -isch, 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.

  1. inherited from *-iskos✻
  2. inherited from *-iskaz✻ — “-ish”
  3. inherited from *-isk✻
  4. inherited from -isċ — “-ish”
  5. inherited from -ish

Definitions

  1. Typical of, similar to, being like.

    • Her face had a girlish charm.
    • […] ; for she had recently developed a magpie[-]ish tendency to appropriate and conceal trifling matters; […]

  2. Somewhat, rather.

    • Her face had a bluish tinge.

  3. About, approximately.

    • We arrived at tennish. We arrived tennish.
    • I couldn't tell his precise age, but he looked fiftyish.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Of, belonging, or relating to (a nationality, place, language or similar association with…

      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.

    2. An ending found on some verbs

      An ending found on some verbs; see usage notes.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for -ish. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA