-ess
Used to form female equivalents.
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form female equivalents.
- actor + -ess → actress
- chanter + -ess → chantress
- duke + -ess → duchess (“female ruler of a duchy”)
Synonyms: -a -ette -ine -ress she- -trix
Antonyms: he-
- The wife of.
- alderman + -ess → aldermaness (“alderman’s wife”)
- duke + -ess → duchess (“duke’s wife”)
- mayor + -ess → mayoress (“mayor’s wife”)
Origin
Etymology tree Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa)bor. Late Latin -issader. Old French -essebor. Middle English -esse English -ess From Middle English -esse, borrowed from Old French -esse, from Late Latin -issa, from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa). Displaced Old English -en (feminine suffix of nouns).
Forms
Suffix idiomatic, morpheme
- Used to form nouns from adjectives.
Origin
From Old French -esse, from Latin -itia.
Derived
Suffix idiomatic, morpheme
- Used to form proper nouns from nouns.
Origin
From Middle English -eis, a borrowing from Old French -eis, a locative suffix descended from Latin -ensis. The French and Middle English suffixes created nouns describing a freeman of a fortified town, but in Modern English this is found only in proper nouns, particularly in certain surnames. Cognates include Italian -ese, and English English -ese is a doublet.