Word.ws English Dictionary

-s-

-s- interfix: genitival interfix used to link elements in some compounds, equivalent to the possessive clitic -'s.

Interfix

-s-

  1. Genitival interfix used to link elements in some compounds, equivalent to the possessive clitic -'s.
    • hogshead, kingsman, yearsworth, jobsworth, womenswear, craftsperson

Origin of -s-

From Middle English -s, -es, from Old English -es (“-'s”, masculine and neuter genitive singular ending), which survives in many old compounds. In more recent coinage, from contraction of the derived clitic -'s in compounds. For more, see -'s.

Questions about -s-

What does -s- mean?
-s- means genitival interfix used to link elements in some compounds, equivalent to the possessive clitic -'s.
What part of speech is -s-?
-s- is an interfix.

Words near -s- in the dictionary

  1. -rrhoea
  2. -rrhœa
  3. -rubicin
  4. -ry
  5. -s
  6. -s-
  7. -safe
  8. -sal
  9. -sal-
  10. -salan
  11. -salazide

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/-s-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.