-ish
/ɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.72 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
2
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
suffix
About, approximately.
suffix
Of, belonging, or relating to (a nationality, place, language or similar association with something).
Example Sentences
- "Her face had a girlish charm."
- "[…] ; for she had recently developed a magpie[-]ish tendency to appropriate and conceal trifling matters; […]"
- "Her face had a bluish tinge."
- "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."
- "We arrived at tennish. We arrived tennish."
- "I couldn't tell his precise age, but he looked fiftyish."
Etymology
From Middle English -isch, -issh, 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪʃ/