-ish

See also: ish, Ish, and -ísh

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English -ish, -isch, from Old English -isċ (“-ish”, suffix), 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; and the Ancient Greek diminutive suffix -ίσκος (-ískos).

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 magpie[-]ish tendency to appropriate and conceal trifling matters; […]

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

   Her face had a greenish 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, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish 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.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ish

Translations

appended to words

• Armenian: -ական (-akan)
• Dutch: -achtig (nl), -ig (nl)
• Georgian: -ური (-uri)
• German: -haft (de)
• Greek: -ικός (el) (-ikós)
• Hungarian: -os (hu), -as (hu), -es, -ös, -s, -dad, -ded
• Italian: ico m, ica f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: っぽい (ppoi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: -aktig (no)

• Polish: -iczny, -yczny
• Spanish: -ico (es), -iento (es)
• Swedish: -aktig (sv)
• Turkish: -ca (tr), -ça (tr), -ce (tr), -çe (tr)
• Welsh: -aidd (cy)

appended to adjectives

• Armenian: -ավուն (-avun)
• Dutch: -achtig (nl), -ig (nl)
• Finnish: -hko (fi), -hkö (fi)
• French: -âtre (fr) (mostly colours)
• Georgian: მო- -ო (mo- -o)
• German: -lich (de)
• Hungarian: -os (hu), -as (hu), -es, -ös, -s
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: scoth- (colours)
• Lithuanian: -okas
• Polish: -awy (pl), -wat
• Russian: -ва́тый (-vátyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: -ast

• Spanish: -ento (es), -oso (es)
• Welsh: -aidd (cy)

appended to numbers

• Armenian: -ոտ (-ot)
• Dutch: rond (nl)
• French: environ (fr), à peu près (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: -ოდე (-ode)
• Hungarian: körül (hu), nagyjából (hu)
• Polish: koło (pl)

appended to roots denoting names of nations or regions

• Arabic: ـِيّ (ar) (-iyy)
• Armenian: -ական (-akan)
• Czech: -ský (cs) m
• Danish: -isk, -sk, -esisk
• Dutch: -isch (nl), -s (nl)
• Galician: -és m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Georgian: -ელი (-eli)
• German: -isch (de)
• Manx: (nationality, region or place) -agh m, (language) -ish f
• Polish: -ski (pl) m
• Russian: -ский m (-skij)
• Spanish: -és (es) m, -esa m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} -isch (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} -ico m, ^{(please verify)} -ica f

Etymology 2

From Middle English -ishen, -ischen, -issen, from Old French -iss-, -is- (a termination of the stem of some forms [present participle, etc.] 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

Usage notes

• This is a termination of some English verbs of French origin, or formed on the type of such verbs, having no assignable force, but being merely a terminal relic.
• In some verbs it appears in the form -ise, as in advertise and franchise.

Related terms

verbs borrowed from French

• abolish
• accomplish

 

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, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 3193.

Anagrams

• His, IHS, Shi, his, shi

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Manx

Etymology 1

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

Suffix 1

-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 2

-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

Manx terms suffixed with -ish

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Middle English

Suffix

-ish

1. Alternative form of -yssh

References

• “-ish, (suf.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 16 June 2018.