-esque
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from French -esque (“-ish, -ic, -esque”), from Italian -esco, from Latin -iscus, of Germanic origin, from Lombardic -isc (“-ish”), from Proto-West Germanic *-isk, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz (“-ish”), from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos.
Cognate with Old High German -isc (German -isch), Old English -isċ, Old Norse -iskr, Gothic -𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (-isks). Doublet of -ish and -ski.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ɛsk/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Suffix
[edit]-esque (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -esque, superlative most -esque)
- In the style or manner of; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.
- 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club[1], archived from the original on 30 March 2013:
- When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator.
- Resembling; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.
- 2022 November 25, B. Cost, “Man wins legal right to be 'boring' at work, gets $3K from company”, in New York Post[2], NYP Holdings, archived from the original on 18 August 2025, retrieved 27 November 2022:
- Needless to say, Mr. T abstained from the "Wolf of Wall Street"-esque extracurriculars on grounds that he didn't agree with Cubik Partners' definition of "fun," per his testimony in court.
- 2025 April 17, Linda Feldmann, “How Donald Trump is upending American culture”, in The Christian Science Monitor[3], archived from the original on 20 April 2025:
- But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.
Synonyms
[edit]- (resembling): para-, -oid, -form/-iform, -ish, -ly, -some, -y, (restricted to casual registers) -ass, (forms adjectives from nouns only) -like
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]Note: these translations are a guide only. For more precise translations, see individual words ending in -esque.
in the style of
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resembling
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Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Borrowed from Italian -esco. Doublet of -ais and -ois.
Pronunciation
[edit]Suffix
[edit]-esque (adjective-forming suffix, plural -esques)
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → English: -esque
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Lombardic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English suffixes
- English adjective-forming suffixes
- English terms with quotations
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Italian
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms borrowed from Italian
- French doublets
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French suffixes
- French adjective-forming suffixes