-ish

English

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Suffix

-ish

1. (of adjectives from common nouns) Typical of, similar to, being like.

   Her face had a girlish charm.

   • 1859, Harriet Parr (as Holme Lee), Against Wind and Tide, volume 1, p. 273:

     ; for she had recently developed a magpieish tendency to appropriate and conceal trifling matters;

2. (of adjectives from adjectives, with a diminutive force) Somewhat, rather.

   Her face had a bluish tinge.

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:

     By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

3. (of adjectives from numbers, especially of times and ages) About, approximately.

   We arrived at tennish;  We arrived tennish.

   (Sometime around ten.)

   I couldn't tell his precise age, but he looked fiftyish.

4. (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.

Usage notes

• This is a productive termination used as a regular formative of adjectives (which are sometimes also used as nouns).
• (of adjectives from common nouns) Many of the words may have a more or less depreciative or contemptuous force.
• (of adjectives from roots of proper nouns) This is the regular formative of patrial adjectives, with the suffix in some adjectives being contracted to -sh or (especially when t precedes) to -ch, as in Welsh (formerly also Welch), Scotch, Dutch, and French. Some used colloquially or made up on occasion may have a diminutive or derogatory implication.

Synonyms

• (being like): quasi-, para-, -oid, -form/-iform, -esque, -ly, -some, -y, (restricted to casual registers) -ass, (forms adjectives from nouns only) -like

Derived terms

Related terms

• ish

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English -ishen, -ischen, -issen, from Old French -iss-, -is- (a termination of the stem of some forms 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

-ish

1. (non-productive) An ending found on some verbs; see usage notes.

Usage notes

• This is a termination of some English verbs of French origin, which normally end in -ir in French, or formed on the type of such verbs, having no assignable force, but being merely a terminal relic, e.g. astonish, banish, establish, diminish, finish, punish, etc.
• In some verbs it appears in the form -ise, as in advertise and franchise.

Related terms

References

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “-ish”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 3193.
• “ish”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Further reading

• Booker, John Manning (1912) The French “Inchoative” Suffix -iss and the French -ir Conjugation in Middle English‎, Heidelberg

Anagrams

• His, Hsi, IHS, Shi, his, shi

Manx

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Suffix

-ish f

1. -ish (language)

Usage notes

• Added to names of places or peoples to denote the language spoken in that place or by that people.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Suffix

-ish

1. -self (emphatic)

Usage notes

• Added to prepositional pronouns to add emphasis (not to create a reflexive pronoun).
  • Used in third-person singular feminine (eg mareeish).
  • Used in second-person plural (eg erriuish).

Alternative forms

• -s, -sh

Related terms

• -yn
• -syn

Derived terms

Middle English

Suffix

-ish

1. Alternative form of -yssh

Ojibwe

Suffix

-ish

1. A suffix denoting the pejorative form of a noun that ends in a consonant.

See also

• -iish
• -oosh
• -osh
• -sh
• -wish

Ottawa

Suffix

-ish

1. pejorative

References

Jerry Randolph Valentine (2001) Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar, University of Toronto, page 191

Swedish

Suffix

-ish

1. (slang) Used to form slang words (that are often identical in meaning to the unsuffixed word).

   Vad händish? (Vad händer?)

   What's up?

   haffish

   haffa

   kebabish

   kebab

Derived terms