Word.ws English Dictionary

-wise

/waɪz/

-wise suffix: in the direction or orientation of.

Suffix

-wise (adjective-forming suffix, not comparable)

  1. In the direction or orientation of.
    • The gaoler slowly turned the key clockwise.
  2. In the manner of.
    • You need to follow the instructions carefully; otherwise, the project may not turn out.
    • Contrariwise, it could be a good idea.
  3. In the matter of; with regard to.
    • This morning looks promising, weather-wise.
    • They had parents in India—that much Octavian had learned in the neighbourhood; the children, beyond grouping themselves garment-wise into sexes, a girl and two boys, carried their life-story no further on his behoof.1919, Saki, “The Penance”, in The Toys of Peace, page 423
  4. One at a time, or one thing at a time.
    • Add the reagent dropwise to the solution.

-wise meaning in Arabic

-wise in Arabic

in the direction or orientation of
بِاتِّجاه, مَع maʕ
in the manner of
مِن جِهة min jiha

Examples of -wise in a sentence

  • Vocab-wise, medalling and PB-ing are now totally part-and-parcelled, and most experts in South Korea believe podiumed, finalled and all-comered are not far off lexiconing.2011 September 1, Harry Pearson, “London 2012 can legacy by verbing the noun”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2024:
  • Finally, we presented the religion-wise and caste-wise description presented in Bollywood films to 150 school students.2015 August 10, Dheeraj Sharma, “Stereotypicality in Indian cinema is not a healthy trend”, in Hindustan Times, archived from the original...

Origin of -wise

From Middle English -wis (“-wise”), from Old English -wīs (“-wise”), from Proto-West Germanic *-wīs (“-wise”), from Proto-Germanic *-wīsaz (“-wise”), from Proto-Germanic *wīsaz (“wise, skilled, knowledgeable”), related to Old English wīs, wīse (“manner, way, fashion”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian -wiese (“-wise”), Dutch -wijs (“-wise”), German -weise (“-wise”), Danish -vis (“-wise”), Norwegian -vis (“-wise”), Swedish -vis (“-wise”), Yiddish ־ווײַז (-vayz, “-wise”). More at wise (“way, manner”).

Questions about -wise

What does -wise mean?
-wise means in the direction or orientation of.
What is -wise in Arabic?
-wise in Arabic is بِاتِّجاه, مَع (maʕ), مِن جِهة (min jiha). See -wise meaning in Arabic.
How do you use -wise in a sentence?
Vocab-wise, medalling and PB-ing are now totally part-and-parcelled, and most experts in South Korea believe podiumed, finalled and all-comered are not far off lexiconing.
What part of speech is -wise?
-wise is a suffix.
How do you pronounce -wise?
-wise is pronounced /waɪz/.

Words near -wise in the dictionary

  1. -ways
  2. -wear
  3. -wich
  4. -wick
  5. -wide
  6. -wise
  7. -witz
  8. -woman
  9. -women
  10. -work
  11. -worth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -wise (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: en-us-wise.ogg.

Cite this entry: “-wise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-wise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.