-ese
/ˈiːz/US/ˈiz/
-ese suffix: used to form adjectives and nouns describing things and characteristics of a city, region, or country, such as the people and the language spoken by these people.
Suffix
-ese
- Used to form adjectives and nouns describing things and characteristics of a city, region, or country, such as the people and the language spoken by these people.
- Faroese, Maltese, Milanese, Parmese, Portuguese, Viennese; Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese; Beninese, Congolese, Togolese
- Used to form nouns meaning the jargon or language used by a particular profession or being or in a particular context.
- journal + -ese → journalese
- legal + -ese → legalese
- Synonyms:
- -speak
-ese meaning in Arabic
-ese in Arabic
- forming adjectives or nouns describing things or people characteristic of a particular place
- ـِيّ -iyy
Synonyms of -ese
Origin of -ese
From Middle English -eys, from Old French -eis, from Latin -ēnsis and, less often, Late Latin -iscus. Generally used in place of more common equivalent suffixes such as -er and -an on the model of equivalent terms in Italian and Portuguese, particularly for Italian, Portuguese African, and East Asian places first widely discussed in Portuguese and Latin.
Words formed from -ese
- Algherese
- Ambonese
- Amoyese
- Andamanese
- Annamese
- Annobonese
- Aragonese
- Assamese
- Auvergnese
- Balinese
- Beninese
- Berlinese
- Bhutanese
- Brooklynese
- Burmese
- Canarese
- Cantonese
- Chinese
- Congolese
- Dublinese
- East Timorese
- Faroese
- Foochowese
- Foochownese
- Fukienese
- Gabonese
- Genoese
- Gilbertese
- Guyanese
- Hainanese
- Hoisanese
- Illinese
- Iroquese
- Japanese
- Javanese
- Katangese
- Kinmenese
- Lebanese
- Macanese
- Maltese
- Marshallese
- Milanese
- Nepalese
- Nipponese
- Parmese
- Pekingese
- Piedmontese
- Pitcairnese
- Pittsburghese
- Portuguese
- Reunionese
- Runyonese
- Rwandese
- Saigonese
- Senegalese
- Sentinelese
- Shanghainese
- Siamese
- Sikkimese
- Sudanese
Questions about -ese
- What does -ese mean?
- -ese means used to form adjectives and nouns describing things and characteristics of a city, region, or country, such as the people and the language spoken by these people.
- What is -ese in Arabic?
- -ese in Arabic is ـِيّ (-iyy). See -ese meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is -ese?
- -ese is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -ese?
- -ese is pronounced /ˈiːz/ (UK).
Words near -ese in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -ese (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--ese.wav.
Cite this entry: “-ese.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-ese. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.