-'s
/s/UK/ɪz/
-'s suffix: a possessive marker, indicating that an object belongs to the noun or noun phrase bearing the marker.
Suffix (1)
-'s
- A possessive marker, indicating that an object belongs to the noun or noun phrase bearing the marker.
- Jane's house is bigger than Sarah's.
- The cat bit the dog's tail. (the dog + 's)
- In the absence of a specified object, used to indicate “the house/place/establishment of”.
- We'll arrive at Jose and María's in time for dinner.
- I'm going to the butcher's for a steak.
- Indicates a purpose or a user.
- You need a driver's license.
- Alex can be a girl's name.
- Used to indicate a quantity of something, especially of time.
- I took three weeks' holiday.
- The rocks lay at about a mile's distance from the shore.
- Used to indicate various other kinds of relationship, such as source or origin, object of an action, subject depicted, etc.
- She got angry at my niece's trying to lie to us.
- the doctor's help (help provided by the doctor)
- Attached to a noun or noun phrase linked to a genitive of, forming a double genitive (Compare of mine, etc.)
- a friend of Sarah's
- Have you heard this new idea of our boss's?
Suffix (2)
-'s
- Used to form the plurals of numerals, letters, some abbreviations and some nouns, usually because the omission of an apostrophe would make the meaning unclear or ambiguous.
- There are four 3’s in my phone number.
- “Banana” has three a’s and one b. (apostrophe "s" used so that the plural of “a” is not confused with the word “as”)
- Used to form plurals of foreign words, to clarify pronunciation, such as “banana’s” or “pasta’s”.
- index’s
- Used to form the plural of nouns that correctly take just an "s" in the plural. See greengrocer’s apostrophe.
- Apple’s 50p a pound
-'s meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malay and Thai
-'s in Hindi
- possessive marker
- का kā, के ke, की kī
-'s in Urdu
- possessive marker
- کا kā, کے ke, کی kī
-'s in Malay
- possessive marker
- milik
-'s in Thai
- possessive marker
- ของ kɔ̌ɔng
More languagesFewer languages
- -'s in Vietnamese
- của
- -'s in Myanmar
- ၏ e
Synonyms of -'s
Forms of -'s
| alternative form | -’s |
|---|---|
| alternative form | -s- |
| alternative form (nonstandard) | -s |
Origin of -'s
From Middle English -s, -es, from Old English -es (“-'s”, masculine and neuter genitive singular ending), from Proto-Germanic *-as, *-is (masculine and neuter genitive singular ending). The apostrophe was added under the false belief that it was a contraction of English his, and retained to distinguish it from the plural. Cognate with Dutch -s, -es (“-'s”), German -s, -es (“-'s”), Danish -s, -es (“-'s”), Swedish -s (“-'s”), Norwegian -s (“-'s”), Icelandic -s (“-'s”).
Equivalent to -s, with addition of apostrophe.
Questions about -'s
- What does -'s mean?
- -'s means a possessive marker, indicating that an object belongs to the noun or noun phrase bearing the marker.
- What is -'s in Hindi?
- -'s in Hindi is का (kā), के (ke), की (kī). See -'s meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is -'s?
- -'s is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -'s?
- -'s is pronounced /s/.
Words near -'s in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -'s (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “-'s.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-%27s. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.