-est
Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs.
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs.
- longest, biggest, fastest, motliest
Origin
From Middle English -est, from Old English -est, -ost, from Proto-West Germanic *-ist, *-ōst, from Proto-Germanic *-istaz, *-ōstaz, related to comparative -er. Cognate of Afrikaans -ste, Dutch -st, German -(e)st, Danish -(e)st, Swedish -(a)st. Via PIE cognate with Ancient Greek -ιστος (-istos), see Pleistocene, protist.
Related
Suffix archaic, dialectal
- Used to form the second-person singular present tense and past tense of verbs. (if thou is the subject; not used with you)
- goest, makest, wentest, madest
Origin
From Middle English -est, -st, from Old English -est, -ast, -st, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *-zi, from Proto-Indo-European *-si. The -t was by transfer from inverted order where thou followed the verb, which also occurred in most dialects of Middle Dutch and Middle High German (compare modern German -st).