-essa

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See also: essa, Essa, essä, and èssa

Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Catalan -essa, from Latin -issa, from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-essa f (noun-forming suffix, plural -esses)

  1. -ess (female)

Usage notes

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  • This suffix is non-productive in modern Catalan, with either the usual feminine termination -a being employed, or the noun having a single form for both genders.

Derived terms

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Finnish

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Etymology

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The inessive singular of -e-.

Suffix

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-essa (front vowel harmony variant -essä, linguistic notation -essA)

  1. Forms the inessive case of the second infinitive of verbs.

Interlingua

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English -ess, French -esse, Italian -essa, Portuguese -esa/Spanish -esa, Russian -е́сса (-éssa) all ultimately from Latin -issa from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-essa

  1. forms nouns from nouns, denoting a female; -ess
    Synonym: -a
    conte (count, earl) + ‎-essa → ‎contessa (countess)
    abbate (abbot) + ‎-essa → ‎abbatessa (abbess)
    tigre (tiger) + ‎-essa → ‎tigressa (tigress)

Derived terms

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References

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Italian

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Etymology

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From Latin -issa, from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈes.sa/
  • Rhymes: -essa
  • Hyphenation: -és‧sa

Suffix

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-essa

  1. -ess

Usage notes

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  • Mostly used to form the feminine of animate nouns. e.g. barone => baronessa
  • Sometimes used ironically or in a disparaging manner. e.g. medico => medichessa

Derived terms

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Anagrams

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