Use of “ish” in English

An ESL student recently asked me “When I can use ‘ish’ in English?” Such a great question! I looked for a single article to answer her question but didn’t find one. So I thought I’d share a succinct explanation in case it’s helpful.

#1 Suffix used to form adjectives from nouns:
babyish; girlish; mulish, bookish; freakish
Source/further study: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/-ish

#2 Suffix added to adjective to mean “somewhat”
oldish; reddish; sweetish
Source/further study: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/-ish

#3 Added to numbers, times and quantities to indicate an approximation:
Ok, I’ll come and pick you up from your house at seven-ish.
He looks about 40-ish. Maybe older.
Source/further study: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-formation/ish-and-y

#4 Can be used by itself to mean “Kind of” or “sort of”:
Would you say that movie had a happy ending? Yeah, ish. [happy-ish]
Is everyone excited? I am — ish. [excited-ish]
Will the weather be nice tomorrow? I think so, ish. [nice-ish]
Source/further study: http://www.slate.com/culture/2018/03/nba-player-curses-in-salt-lake-city-utahns-cant-believe-their-ears.html

Please note, this is an American English explanation. An English speaker in another country might have some other uses for “ish” or might not use these.

May 2, 2018

Allison Pharr

Hi! I'm Allison. I'm a native English speaker from the United States, living in Spain. I've been tutoring students from around the world in conversational English for over a year now. Because I love it so much, I decided to earn a certificate to teach English as a foreign language (TESOL). I'm taking the in the second half of my TESOL studies now. They say that 20% of language learning should spent learning the rules (like grammar and vocabulary), and 80% should be practice. That's what I'm here for! As a foreign language learner myself, I personally find this to be true. I spent a year learning Spanish in the classroom, but it wasn't until I found a really nice lady to talk to outside of the classroom that I developed a relationship with Spanish. We talked about subjects that interest me and use vocabulary relevant to my life. Because I felt comfortable with her, I got over my nerves and just talked, even if I wasn't perfect. The point is to communicate. Plus, even Native English...

Hi! I'm Allison. I'm a native English speaker from the United States, living in Spain. I've been tutoring students from around the world in conversational English for over a year now. Because I love it so much, I decided to earn a certificate to teach English as a foreign language (TESOL). I'm taking the in the second half of my TESOL studies now. They say that 20% of language learning should spent learning the rules (like grammar and vocabulary), and 80% should be practice. That's what I'm here for! As a foreign language learner myself, I personally find this to be true. I spent a year learning Spanish in the classroom, but it wasn't until I found a really nice lady to talk to outside of the classroom that I developed a relationship with Spanish. We talked about subjects that interest me and use vocabulary relevant to my life. Because I felt comfortable with her, I got over my nerves and just talked, even if I wasn't perfect. The point is to communicate. Plus, even Native English...

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