
Suffix ish examples
- “I can’t wear these shoes, they’re my sisters! They’re too girl ish for me.” ...
- When Linda was young she was kind of boy ish, she was always playing sports and fishing with her brothers.
- That was a fool ish thing to do.
- Lenny is so styl ish, he is always dressed like he is going to a formal party.
What does the suffix "ish" mean?
What does "ish" mean in English?
What is a suffix for a word?

What does the suffix ish do?
-ish 1. a suffix used to form adjectives from nouns, with the sense of “belonging to” (British; Danish; English; Spanish); “after the manner of,” “having the characteristics of,” “like” (babyish; girlish; mulish); “addicted to,” “inclined or tending to” (bookish; freakish); “near or about” (fiftyish; sevenish).
Can you add ish to any word?
1:156:22How to Use the Suffix "ish" | English Lesson - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIt's probably not a good word to use if your boyfriend or girlfriend cooks you dinner piece ofMoreIt's probably not a good word to use if your boyfriend or girlfriend cooks you dinner piece of advice anyhow ish is a suffix that can be added to nouns or adjectives. If you add it to a noun.
Why does English end in ish?
Because English is a hybrid language, with a Germanic foundation and a stratum of Latinate vocabulary added later. The 'ish' ending is Germanic. In German, pretty much every language's name ends in 'isch': e.g., Englisch, Spanisch, Chinesisch, Japanisch, Russisch, Tschechisch.
Why do people put ish after words?
-ish is added to words referring to times, dates, or ages to form words which indicate that the time or age mentioned is approximate. I'll call you guys tomorrow. Noon-ish. The nurse was fiftyish.
What words contain ish?
accomplishedaccomplished.impoverished.astonishment.malnourished.sportfishing.undiminished.extinguisher.dishonorable.More items...
When was ish first used?
But that's exactly what ish did[.] The detached suffix first appeared in 1986, in a theater review published in the Sunday Times of England, and didn't cross over to the U.S. until 2002 — and then only in a quotation from a British editor who hesitated before replying to a reporter's question.
What is ish in British?
-ish suffix (QUITE) used to form adjectives to give the meaning to some degree; fairly: He had a sort of reddish beard. She was oldish - about 60, I'd say. We'll start at sevenish (= about seven o'clock).
What are words that end in ISH called?
Words ending with the suffix -ish are often adjectives, but this suffix has several senses.
What kind of morpheme is ish?
'-ish' usually goes from adejective to adjective but this is from adverb to adjective, and and '-y' from adjective to adverb but this is from noun or verb to adjective. They are sometimes used to add comedic value to a sentence.
What is the meaning of 12 ish?
Any time close to twelve o'clocktwelveish (uncountable) (colloquial) Any time close to twelve o'clock.
What languages end in ish?
British, Cornish, Danish, English, Finnish, Irish, Jewish, Kentish, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish etc.
Is ish allowed in Scrabble?
Yes, ish is a valid Scrabble word.
Suffix Ish Worksheets - Learny Kids
Displaying top 8 worksheets found for - Suffix Ish. Some of the worksheets for this concept are Work 1 adjective forming suffixes, Prefixes suffixes, Prefixes suffixes, The y rule, A classroom guide to, Medical terminology basics, Word stress summary, Name period vocabulary root wordprefixsuffix quiz.
Adding "ish" at the end of a word.
Lesson. If you ever get asked a question that your not entirely sure of what the answer is, then just add the "ish" phrase at the end of a single word made for a response.
List of suffixes ending in "ish". Word List - LearnThat
Multimedia. Explore each word’s context, its nuances and flavors, to get a sense of how to use it. Integrated in each quiz is our Open Dictionary of English, ODE. It’s the richest and most interesting learners’ dictionary available.
Use of “ish” in English | Verbling
An ESL student recently asked me “When I can use ‘ish’ in English?” Such a great question! I looked for a single article to answer her question but didn’t find one.
The Descriptive Suffix "-ish" : Wordshop | Vocabulary.com
Sort: More verbally proficient students might sort words into three groups: adjectives that end in the suffix-ish, verbs that end in -ish, and Other.Let partners collaborate during the sorting activity. Encourage discussion and prompt students to provide a rationale for their categorization.
What does the suffix "ish" mean?
The suffix -ish is flexibly used with a base word to denote "somewhat, somewhat prone to, or somewhat like.". For example, we have ticklish, reddish-blue, stylish, childish, boyish, a waspish tongue, a foolish old woman, a coldish wind.
Who wrote the book Ish?
Read: Read the delightful children's book Ish by Peter Reynolds to the class. A frustrated young artist is encouraged by his little sister, for his sketch may not look exactly like a vase, but it is vase-ish. Visit Book Chatter to meet the author and set up an account to read the book for free, online.
Is "astonish" an adjective?
Doubtless, we could think of additional exceptions. However, words like astonish, admonish, tarnish, polish, varnish, and establish are not adjectives; they are typically used as verbs (but polish and varnish are also nouns).
Is "ish" a morpheme?
No. There is no meaning in the string of letters in these cases; it is not a morpheme in these words, not an indivisible unit of meaning. Instead, these words comprise a phonogram family. A few lesson suggestions for the suffix -ish: Read: Read the delightful children's book Ish by Peter Reynolds to the class.
What does the suffix "ish" mean?
Native English speakers often use the -ish suffix as a way of approximating something. For example, I think the coat colour was green, so I might say “The coat was green-ish.” We native English speakers often break the rules, younger English speakers abuse the use of a suffix to make a word cool, I heard someone young saying they thought the behaviour of a person was “creep-ish” i.e. they “the person in question” was obnoxious or weird but not completely creepy. Young English speakers sometimes just say "ish" using the suffix as a word in it's own right to answer a question.
When to use "ish"?
It used to be simple, use -ish when you were being inclusive or trying to suggest “belonging to” for example “Brit-ish”, “Dan-ish”, and mostly use -ish for approximation. Today you hear words with a suffix just to make them sound cool.
How to learn sufficed words?
The only way to learn the sufficed words worth learning is by listening to native English speakers use the words in everyday conversation. So listen!
What does "warmish" mean in the shower?
But back to ish. If someone asks you ‘Was the water in the shower warm’, you might reply ‘Hmm, warmish’ - meaning that it was warm, but not as warm as you would have liked. ‘Is it cold outside?’ ‘Coldish’ meaning, ‘Yes, cold, but not as cold as you might expect’. You might hear someone say ‘Is your cousin’s new boyfriend tall?’ and the reply could be ‘He’s tallish’. So he’s tall, but he’s not super tall. You can add ish to the end of adjectives to mean kind of, somewhat.
What does the suffix "ish" mean in a word?
Adding the "ish" suffix to a word X is a colloquial way to say that something is "somewhat" X, "approximately" X, "rather" X, etc.
Who said "I was fame ish"?
Or, as Steve from " Blue's Clues" said "I was fame-ish"
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Is "ish" an adjective or noun?
All of your usage examples show it affixed to nouns, not adjectives. For adjectives (and sometimes adverbs), "ish" shows an approximation, but for nouns, marks a quality: "impish" does not mean "approximately an imp" but rather "like an imp". There are two very different uses at work here, and arguably only the adjective suffix is the informal one.
What does "ish" mean in English?
The canonical use of - ish is as a suffix meaning “approximately,” as in bluish, tallish, sixish, or even hungry-ish. This is the definition—the only definition—that you’ll find in Merriam-Webster, which notes that - ish derives from the Old English - isc, of Germanic origin, which in turn is related to similar such suffixes in Dutch (- isch) ...
What does "ish" mean in advertising?
Advertisement. Instead, as described by the linguist Stefanie Kuzmack, ish refers back to a particular idea, often in the form of an adjective, that was previously mentioned. You could repeat the idea, but you don’t have to:
Does "ish" need to be near the word "ish"?
And ish doesn’t even need to be near the word that it refers to. For example, in the following sentence ish modifies “hobbies,” not “skating”:
Is "ish" a prefix?
Yeah, ish. But while it’s quite common for new words to be formed by adding prefixes or suffixes (editorialize from editor, anti-nuclear from nuclear), or even by re-casting a portion of a word that hadn’t before been thought of as an affix (snowmageddon based on armageddon, chocoholic based on alcoholic), it’s exceedingly uncommon ...
Is "ish" a promiscuous word?
For centuries now, -ish has been rather promiscuous in English, attaching to a wide variety of words and even phrases. Take the following architectural observation, cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, from an 1894 article in The Daily News, a now-defunct London newspaper (of which Charles Dickens was briefly the editor!): Advertisement.
Is Ish atypical?
In fact, ish is atypical even among its uncommon cohorts, such as ism and ology, which both refer to a general class to which the more specific exemplars belong. In other words, nationalism and communism are kinds of isms. Zoology and biology are kinds of ologies. But are hungry-ish and tired-ish kinds of ishes?
What does the suffix "ish" mean?
The SUFFIX -ish can mean = it’s like, or has the quality of: foolish – like a fool / stylish – has good style / childish – like a child. For a country’s people or things: From Sweden – Swedish / From Britain – British / From Ireland – Irish. -ish with other adjectives:
What does "ish" mean in English?
Let’s learn how you can use the suffix -ish to easily increase your English vocabulary. -ish can mean = it’s like, or has the quality of.
What is a suffix for a word?
A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another word. English Suffixes are used many ways…. Let’s learn how you can use the suffix -ish to easily increase your English vocabulary.

Common Use of A Suffix
Origins of ‘Ish’
- Thinking about this -ish ending, this is even the ending we give to a lot of languages and for people. English, British, Spanish, Finnish, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Irish, Scottish – these are all ‘ish adjectives too. I think this must be a Germanic ending in origin – it comes from German. In German, you would say ‘Englisch’ - so the same ending in German is spelt I-S-C-H. So …
Language in Flux – Development of ‘Ish’
- OK, all of that’s fairly simple. But the use of -ish has gone even further in spoken language. We also might use ish with all sorts of adjectives - like colours for example. Someone might say ‘Is it red or it is blue?’ And the response might be ‘ Mmm well, it’s blueish’. You could describe something as pink or pinkish, green or greenish. The -ish on the end here means ‘it’s kind of pink…
’Ish’ with Other Adjectives
- But back to ish. If someone asks you ‘Was the water in the shower warm’, you might reply ‘Hmm, warmish’ - meaning that it was warm, but not as warm as you would have liked. ‘Is it cold outside?’ ‘Coldish’ meaning, ‘Yes, cold, but not as cold as you might expect’. You might hear someone say ‘Is your cousin’s new boyfriend tall?’ and the reply could be ‘He’s tallish’. So he’s tall, but he’s not sup…
‘Ish’ with Numbers, Times, Ages
- In conversation, we go even further than that. So we might add it to numbers. I talked about time and what words we use for time in Monday’s podcast. Well, if you were agreeing a time to meet or a time to light the barbecue, it might ‘What time shall we light the barbecue tonight?’ and the answer could be ‘Mmm, eightish’. That would mean around eight o’clock. ‘What time are you goin…
Or Even on Its Own
- But even further than that, we can use -ish to change what we’re saying. If someone says ‘How was the film last night?’ And you said ‘The film was good’ - that’s quite positive. If you said instead ‘The film was goodish’ - then it means ‘It was OK – but perhaps there were some parts of the film that you didn’t like. Maybe you fell asleep halfway through’. ‘How did your exam go?’ And the ans…
Goodbye
- Anyway, if you like what we’re doing on our podcasts, then go to our website and have a look at our courses pages. There’s a lot of information there about the courses that you can buy from Adept English – but if you would like to progress to understanding English conversation and to spoken English, then our Course One: Activate your Listening would help you enormously. It start…
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