-esce
English
Etymology
From Latin -ēscere (inchoative suffix), form of -ēscō (“I become”). Compare -ish (Etymology 2).
Pronunciation
Suffix
-esce
- Used to form verbs from nouns, following the pattern of verbs derived from Latin verbs ending in -esco
Usage notes
- This is a termination of verbs of Latin origin, having usually an inchoative force, as in convalesce (“begin to be well”) or effervesce (“begin to boil up”), though less obvious in some verbs, as coalesce.
- The present participle of such verbs appears in English as adjectives with the termination -escent, as in effervescent, but such adjectives often exist without a corresponding verb with -esce.
- The noun is terminated with -escence, as in convalescence or effervescence.
Derived terms
Related terms
other terms ending in -esce
suffixes
References
- William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “-esce”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 2002.