# suffix: ish



## Mr.X Senior

We have suffix -ish to make words like, I think most are adjuctive , :

childish
brigthish
coldish
oldish
fourish and so on.


How about these:

adultish
dogish
zeroish
tallish


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## RolandLavengro

Childish yes, but the rest don't sound right. You could add "ish" to any adjective I suppose, and convey the message that you are modifying it somewhat. However, it isn't good English and there are usually alternatives. For example, coldish might be better as cool, hottish as warm. Oldish as middle-aged, dog(g)ish (double the last letter in three-letter words with middle vowel) as "slightly canine" etc. Childish yes - with a specific meaning of acting like a child (as a criticism). I haven't seen or heard the others - and don't really wish to!!!
The barman in Cheers (Boston Bar sit-com) used to find himself misusing the suffix when trying to sound clever (to girls I think). He reproached himself immediately as it made him squirm.


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## Mr.X Senior

This -ish thing pop up in one episode of BBC's "Talk about English - Better Speaking English".

I'd checked in Shorter OED, words 
brigthish,
coldish,
oldish,
fourish are exist.



Foolish
English
Jewish

are the example given in Shorter OED.


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## Franzi

'Childish' is the only one I would identify as a completely standard word of English.  I don't have a problem with people using the '-ish' suffix though.  I would understand the others, and many of them would sound fine in specific contexts.


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## RolandLavengro

Alright, I stand corrected. I still prefer to find alternatives. One time the suffix can be used is as an afterthought - as in "She was old .... ish" - where the speaker suddenly realises the need to modify the judgment. A listener may do it for you - "You look tired ...?" "Yes, -ish ..." But I wouldn't be likely to say "I feel tiredish" - rather "I feel slightly tired", or "yes, I am a bit."
The foolish, English and Jewish are not modifying by the way.


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## Aud Duck

Maybe this is unique to my area/age group, but people I know use "-ish" to modify every adjective imaginable.  It is understood that these are not real words and that you are making them up on the spot, but it is really very common to do so, and not simply because you have found yourself in a linguistic corner, as in the example "old...ish..."  For example, Mr. X Senior's example "fourish" is not exactly standard English, but it is easy to imagine a colloquial setting in which you might run across it.  For example, if I was babysitting a child whose age I didn't know and someone asked me how old he/she was, I would be likely to reply "Oh, I don't know...fourish?"  I would do this despite the fact that there already exists the more standard expression "around four."  The former simply comes more naturally to me.

I should add that this is not standard English, and I would never use any of the examples (excepting "childish") in a formal essay.  In speech, though, I think you are fairly safe in using any word you like with "-ish."


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## Franzi

RolandLavengro said:


> Alright, I stand corrected. I still prefer to find alternatives.


 
I think it depends on context.  In normal writing or very neutral speech, I would always prefer 'cool' to 'cold-ish', but '-ish' can sound humorous, especially if overused or attached to words it's not normally attached to.  I can't remember where I heard or read this offhand, but there's some book/movie/tv show that has a very funny scene where someone is describing something badly ("Well, he was sort of old... I guess... um...") and the interviewer responds with something like "So he was an old-ish, bald-ish, white-ish, short-ish... etc. etc. guy..."


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## Franzi

As someone else noted, 'English' and 'Jewish' are not examples of this pattern. The '-ish' suffix means that something is _like_ that thing or _similar in number/amount/size/_etc.


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## Mr.X Senior

Franzi said:


> As someone else noted, 'English' and 'Jewish' are not examples of this pattern. The '-ish' suffix means that something is _like_ that thing or _similar in number/amount/size/_etc.


 

As in Shorter OED,

under -ish suffix OE:

Forming adjectives: (a) from national or other class names, as English, Jewish, Scottish, Turkish;


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## RolandLavengro

Aud Duck said:


> I should add that this is not standard English, and I would never use any of the examples (excepting "childish") in a formal essay. In speech, though, I think you are fairly safe in using any word you like with "-ish."


 
Yes, you've hit the nail on the head. The trouble with over-using ish, is that it might undermine sensible discourse. Adjectives are primarily intended (have evolved) to describe something as accurately as possible. Before saying the child is fourish, I would try to ascertain its age. If I didn't know and had to guess I am not sure I would start with a particular year then pull the rug out from under myself by a modifier. The danger is that if it becomes part of everyday vocabulary, it will devalue any precision the adjectives might hold. About this I am quite certain-ish.


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## Aud Duck

Franzi said:


> As someone else noted, 'English' and 'Jewish' are not examples of this pattern. The '-ish' suffix means that something is _like_ that thing or _similar in number/amount/size/_etc.



"Childish," which is the only form we're all agreed on, follows this pattern as well.  It means "like a child."  In the other cases, "ish" mitigates the adjective.  For example, if I described someone as "tallish," I would mean "somewhat tall."


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## RolandLavengro

Mr.X Senior said:


> As in Shorter OED,
> 
> under -ish suffix OE:
> 
> Forming adjectives: (a) from national or other class names, as English, Jewish, Scottish, Turkish;


 
yes, not the same as modifying adjectives - cold-ish, hott-ish etc.


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## Franzi

Mr.X Senior said:


> As in Shorter OED,
> 
> under -ish suffix OE:
> 
> Forming adjectives: (a) from national or other class names, as English, Jewish, Scottish, Turkish;


 
Ok, they may be related etymologically. Just remember that words like "cold-ish" have an added implication of _not quite _being that thing--an implication that is missing in words like 'English', 'Jewish', etc.


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## RolandLavengro

Franzi said:


> Ok, they may be related etymologically. Just remember that words like "cold-ish" have an added implication of _not quite _being that thing--an implication that is missing in words like 'English', 'Jewish', etc.


 
Yep, being Jewish means you are a jew, not like a jew - if you were like a jew you would presumably be jewishish.


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## Aud Duck

RolandLavengro said:


> If I didn't know and had to guess I am not sure I would start with a particular year then pull the rug out from under myself by a modifier. The danger is that if it becomes part of everyday vocabulary, it will devalue any precision the adjectives might hold. About this I am quite certain-ish.



Well, I think that depends on how it is used.  English already has recourses for describing these things, such as the adjective "cool" and the phrase "around four."  I would actually argue, that, when used well, the "-ish" suffix can increase the precision of adjectives, because it creates two forms where there used to be only one.  No one would argue that "old" and "oldish" have the same meaning.  You are saying completely different things, and I think that the listener understands this.  People who look down on the "ish" form would probably say something like "she's getting up there."  If you look at this, you'll notice that it actually says the same thing as "oldish," with the difference that it's not nearly as concise.


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## RolandLavengro

Aud Duck said:


> People who look down on the "ish" form would probably say something like "she's getting up there." If you look at this, you'll notice that it actually says the same thing as "oldish," with the difference that it's not nearly as concise.


 
Yes, thank you. This is very important. I wouldn't say I am "looking down" on "ish" - merely cautioning against over-use. I agree with you - it does function as a tool of modifiying and thus may be very useful. But I would caution the poster against using it as a first resort. Better to look for the appropriate adjective, then modify it with an appropriate modifier (for want of a better term?) - as you said, around four, about four, not yet five ... still teething ... it may be cultural, but in EE (English English?) the examples given just sound ... I don't know, wrong, silly, inadequate - ish!


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## GreenWhiteBlue

"Flourish" certainly exists as perfectly normal English, but it is not an adjective that means "like flour"; it is instead a verb, and the "ish" on the end is not the same "ish" one finds on adjectives:

_Now that they are getting more fertilizer, my rose bushes have really started to *flourish.*_


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## RolandLavengro

GreenWhiteBlue said:


> "Flourish" certainly exists as perfectly normal English, but it is not an adjective that means "like flour"; it is instead a verb, and the "ish" on the end is not the same "ish" one finds on adjectives:
> 
> _Now that they are getting more fertilizer, my rose bushes have really started to *flourish.*_


 
And Fish is not something like an F ... that might be fishy ... i.e., smells a bit suspicious (not fishish). I think I shall finish on this note (a fish has a fin-ish like thing on its back).


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## Mr.X Senior

Not to confuse my question , I'd pasted -ish defination from Shorter OED 6th Ed:

-ish /0ɪʃ/ suffix¹. OE.
[ORIGIN Old English -isc corresp. to Gothic -isks, Old Norse -iskr, Old High German, Old Saxon, Old Frisian -isc, German, Dutch -isch, from Germanic: cogn. with Greek -iskos dim. suffix of nouns.]

Forming adjectives: (a) from national or other class names, as English, Jewish, Scottish, Turkish; (b) from other nouns, with the sense ‘of the nature or character of (a person, animal, etc.)’, now chiefly derog., ‘having the (bad or objectionable) qualities of’, as boorish, boyish, foolish, sluggish, waspish, womanish; also from names of things, with the sense ‘of the nature of, tending to’, as bookish, feverish; or from other parts of speech, as snappish, uppish; (c) from adjectives, with the sense ‘approaching the quality of, somewhat’, app. first with words of colour, as bluish, reddish, etc.; later also with other adjectives, and now, in colloq. use, possible with nearly all monosyllabic adjectives, and some others, e.g. brightish, coldish, narrowish, oldish; (d) colloq. from names of hours of the day or numbers of years, with the sense ‘round about, somewhere near (the time or period of)’, as elevenish, fortyish.


I am not fun of -ish, however I was shocked while I was listening to BBC's programme on Better English. They mentioned that especially in London and around it, -ish is used frequently and especially in tenish (time : about ten), tallish and so on. 

So, is there any person from London ?


PS. Flourish is from flower + ish ( according tot SOED )


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## Loob

Here's my take on '-ish'.

It's a perfectly standard way of converting a noun into an adjective eg Jew-Jewish, child-childish.

It's also a_ colloquial_ way of "muting" the value of an adjective: "old-ish", not really old, but with a tendency in that direction; "tall-ish", not really tall, but pretty tall. 

You're likely to find the _noun+ish=> adjective_ words in dictionaries.  You're much less likely to find the "muted adjective" words in dictionaries.  

The "-ish" suffix is very productive in colloquial language: you can, colloquially, add "-ish" to almost any adjective (or indeed noun).


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## Forero

I have used _adultish_ for things like wearing a necktie or high heels, wearing a jacket when it's not cold, going to a swimming pool and never getting in the water, staying off grass and out of trees, etc.

Childlike, good; childish, bad.
Mature, good; adultish, bad.

_Oldish_ is more to the point than _elderly_.


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## Mr.X Senior

Loob said:


> Here's my take on '-ish'.
> 
> It's a perfectly standard way of converting a noun into an adjective eg Jew-Jewish, child-childish.
> 
> It's also a_ colloquial_ way of "muting" the value of an adjective: "old-ish", not really old, but with a tendency in that direction; "tall-ish", not really tall, but pretty tall.
> 
> You're likely to find the _noun+ish=> adjective_ words in dictionaries. You're much less likely to find the "muted adjective" words in dictionaries.
> 
> The "-ish" suffix is very productive in colloquial language: you can, colloquially, add "-ish" to almost any adjective (or indeed noun).


 

Thanks, it was excetly what I had hear on BBC.


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## Zephyros

Is there anyone using ' Time + ish?"?
I always use it:

For ex:

A: Hello mate, you're up for a movie tonight?
B: Yes, sure, catch you "7-ish" at the Popcorn-galore shop  ?

..


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## Broccolicious

Hi Zephyros

Yes, absolutely, that's a common form. Well, common-ish - my spell-checker doesn't recognise it.

Broc 

PS I love the sound of that shop!


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## liliput

One of the most common uses is with colours (where the exact colour is difficult to define):

He wore a bluish shirt
My wife has greenish-blue eyes
Part of the wall had turned a greenish colour.
His hair was a sort of reddish-brown


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## Zareza

Mr.X Senior said:


> from other nouns, with the sense ‘of the nature or character of (a person, animal, etc.)’, now chiefly derog., ‘having the (bad or objectionable) qualities of’,





Loob said:


> The "-ish" suffix is very productive in colloquial language: you can, colloquially, add "-ish" to almost any adjective (or indeed noun).


Could* to act cattish* be used colloquially, familiarly, jokingly and not vulgarly? (cat + t + ish)


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## Florentia52

Zareza said:


> Could* to act catish* be used colloquially, familiarly, jokingly and not vulgarly? (cat + -ish)


As noted, you can add "-ish" to almost anything in casual language. 

That said, we'd probably use "catty" or "catlike," and if we were for some reason to use "cattish," it would have to have two t's.


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## Zareza

RolandLavengro said:


> dog(g)ish (double the last letter in three-letter words with middle vowel)


Yes, indeed. I forgot to double the last letter. Thank you.


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## RM1(SS)

I agree completely with Loob (#20) and liliput (#25).


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## Zareza

Florentia52 said:


> we'd probably use "catty" or "catlike," and if we were for some reason to use "cattish," it would have to have two t's.


I suppose _catty_, _catlike _and _cattish _are synonyms or nearly... or rather not ?!
From these three words it seems that _catty_ has a negative meaning > (informal) (of a woman) saying unkind things about other people


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## PaulQ

Zareza said:


> I suppose _catty_, _catlike _and _cattish _are synonyms or nearly... or rather not ?!


_catty_, _catlike _and _cattish _are bad examples for teaching the differences in the -ish; "-like" and "-y" suffixes. They all have several meanings depending on context. As a consequence, it is not practical to answer your question in this thread. I suggest you (i) post a new question with context and examples or (ii) choose another example.


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## Zareza

Thank you for your prompt reply.


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## zaffy

And do you sometimes say "now-ish" like I came across in a series? 

"Do you fancy going to have a chat with him?" "Now-ish?"


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## Tegs

zaffy said:


> And do you sometimes say "now-ish" like I came across in a series?
> 
> "Do you fancy going to have a chat with him?" "Now-ish?"


No, I’ve never heard this and it sounds odd. Now is now, there is no -ish about it, unlike 8-ish which might mean 7:50 or 8:10.


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## USMeg

I am quite entertained by my millennial daughter's use of "ish" as a standalone word.
"Is it warm out?"
"Ish."


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## USMeg

Now-ish is just another word for soon...


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## zaffy

USMeg said:


> Now-ish is just another word for soon...


So it doesn't sound off to you, right?


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## JulianStuart

zaffy said:


> And do you sometimes say "now-ish" like I came across in a series?
> 
> "Do you fancy going to have a chat with him?" "Now-ish?"


I once saw a clock in a (real) estate agents' office that had the hours marked 1-ish, 2-ish, 3-ish etc.  This one would be fairly easily be interpreted as "very soon" or "as soon as you can" etc.


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## zaffy

JulianStuart said:


> This one would be fairly easily be interpreted as "very soon" or "as soon as you can"etc.


The Polish subtitles read "at once/immediately"


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## JulianStuart

zaffy said:


> So it doesn't sound off to you, right?


Please define "off" 
Context, context, context  It wouldn't work in a formal situation but it's an informal way of _softening_ a strong request.  "Now-ish" is far less blunt that "Right now".

Edit to add: Subtitle writers have a big challenge, especially trying to match every nuance to the timing and flow of a conversation and moving pictures. It's quite possible that those constraints prevented them from passing the "Zaffy test" of fidelity and they could not easily include the _best_ translation


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## USMeg

I would not use now-ish in formal writing, but I would use it conversationally, and I feel confident that any AE speaker would understand what is meant. It's not necessarily _right now_. It includes right now in its range.


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