590: -ish Jul 20, 2016

The suffix '-ish' has a variety of different uses as a tool to form new words. As a Germanic equivalent to '-esque' (more on that tomorrow), '-ish' can be added to create adjectives from both nouns and other adjectives. Many nationalities from Northern Europe such as English, Welsh, Danish, Swedish, Flemish etc–as well as some religious groups–end with the 'sh', which goes back to the form for adjectives from Old English. In Modern German, the '-isch' suffix is one of the most common ways to create the adjectival form for a given word. In addition to many adjectives created from nouns such as 'boyish', the suffix also has diminutive properties for adjectives themselves, so that something clearly defined word like 'tall' can become more loosely defined like 'tallish'. Nevertheless, when the suffix is attached to verbs such as 'establish', that ending is not the same, and it is in fact of Romantic origins.