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-est. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-est, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-est in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-est you have here. The definition of the word
-est will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
-est, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English -est, from Old English -st, -est, from Proto-Germanic *-istaz, *-ōstaz, related to comparative -er. Cognate of Afrikaans -ste, Dutch -st, German -(e)st, Danish -(e)st, Swedish -(a)st.
Suffix
-est
- Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs.
- longest, biggest, fastest
Usage notes
- See -er for notes on the usage of this suffix to form superlatives.
- Occasionally, the -est suffix is added to a verbal adjective as a substitute for most. An example is winningest.
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Translations
superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- Arabic: اَلـ (ar) (al--) (a superlative pattern of the adjective)
- Armenian: ամենա- (amena-), -գույն (-guyn)
- Basque: -en
- Breton: -añ (br)
- Burmese: please add this translation if you can
- Catalan: més (ca) (before the adjective or adverb, after the definite article)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 最 (zh) (zuì) (prefix)
- Czech: nej-
- Danish: -est
- Dutch: -ste (nl)
- Esperanto: plej (eo)
- Finnish: (for adjectives) -in (fi)
- French: plus (fr) (before the adjective, after the definite article)
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: -ster m, -ste f, am ...-sten (adverbs)
- Hungarian: leg- (hu)
- Japanese: 一番 (ja) (いちばん, ichiban; placed before the adjective), 最も (ja) (もっとも, mottomo), 最 (ja) (さい, sai-) (Sino-Japanese prefix)
- Khmer: ...ជាងគេ (…ciəng kei)
- Korean: 가장 (ko) (gajang), 제일(第一) (ko) (jeil), 최(最) (choe-) (Sino-Korean prefix)
- Lao: ...ທີ່ສຸດ (...thī sut)
- Latvian: -ākais m, -ākā f
- Malay: ter- (ms)
- Mongolian: хамгын (xamgyn)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: -est, (before most long adjectives or adverbs) mest (no)
- Nynorsk: -ast, (before most long adjectives or adverbs) mest
- Polish: naj- (pl), najbardziej (before the adjective or adverb)
- Portuguese: mais (pt) used with definite article
- Romanian: mai (ro) (before the adjective or adverb, after the demonstrative article)
- Russian: наи- (ru) (nai-) (prefix before comparative forms), са́мый (ru) (sámyj) (before adjectives in the normal form), наибо́лее (ru) (naibóleje) (before adjectives in the normal form), -е́йший (-éjšij), -а́йший (-ájšij) (suffixes follow an adjective form)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: нај-
- Roman: naj- (sh)
- Slovak: naj-
- Spanish: (before the adjective or adverb, after the definite article) más (es)
- Swedish: -ast (sv) (1), mest (sv) (before the adjective or adverb) (1)
- Thai: ...ที่สุด (th) (...tîi-sùt)
- Turkish: en (tr)
- Vietnamese: ... nhất (vi) (一 (vi))
- Welsh: -af
- Yoruba: -olo
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Etymology 2
From Middle English -est, -st, from Old English -est, -ast, -st, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *-zi, from Proto-Indo-European *-si. The -t was by transfer from inverted order where thou followed the verb, which also occurred in most dialects of Middle Dutch and Middle High German (compare modern German -st).
Suffix
-est
- (archaic, dialectal) Used to form the second-person singular present tense and past tense of verbs. (if thou is the subject; not used with you)
- goest, makest, wentest, madest
Alternative forms
Translations
second-person singular present tense of verbs
- Czech: -eš, -íš, -áš
- Dutch: -t (nl)
- Finnish: -t (fi)
- French: -es (fr) (for regular -er verbs); -is (fr) (for regular -ir verb); -s (fr) (for most -re verbs)
- German: -st
- Hungarian: -sz, -d (hu), -l (hu)
- Irish: -air (broad synthetic form, 1st conjugation), -ir (slender synthetic form, 1st conjugation), -aír (broad synthetic form, 2nd conjugation), -ír (slender synthetic form, 2nd conjugation)
- Italian: -i (it) (for regular -are and -ere verbs and for those -ire verbs that don't take -isc-)
- Latin: -as, -es, -is, -s
- Polish: -esz, -isz, -ysz, -asz
- Portuguese: -as (pt) (1st conjugation), -es (pt) (2nd and 3rd conjugation)
- Romanian: -i (most verbs), -ezi (some 1st conjugation verbs), -ești (some 4th conjugation verbs)
- Russian: -ешь (-ešʹ), -ёшь (-jóšʹ), -ишь (-išʹ), -ашь (-ašʹ)
- Spanish: -as (es), -es (es)
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See also
Anagrams
- ETS, ETs, SET, STE, Set, StE, Ste, Ste., TEs, TSE, Tse, set, seṭ, tse
Hungarian
Etymology
From -es (adjective-forming suffix) + -t (adverb-forming suffix).
Pronunciation
Suffix
-est
- (adverb-forming suffix) Added to a word to form an adverb.
- öröm (“joy”) + -est → örömest (“with joy”)
Usage notes
- (adverb-forming suffix) Variants:
- -st
- -est
Derived terms
Middle English
Alternative forms
Suffix
-est
- Used to form the second-person singular present indicative of verbs.
Old English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *-ustaz, *-istaz.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-est
- suffix forming feminine nouns, originally from verbs
- eornost ― earnest
- þēnest ― service
- ofost ― haste
- orrest ― battle, combat
Declension
Declension of -est (strong ō-stem)
Welsh
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Suffix
-est
- (colloquial) verb suffix for the second-person singular preterite
Derived terms
Category Welsh terms suffixed with -est not found