-ish

-ish

suff.
1. Of, relating to, or being: Swedish.
2.
a. Characteristic of: girlish.
b. Having the usually undesirable qualities of: childish.
3. Approximately; somewhat: greenish.
4. Tending toward; preoccupied with: selfish.
[Middle English, from Old English -isc.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-ish

suffix forming adjectives
1. of or belonging to a nationality or group: Scottish.
2. often derogatory having the manner or qualities of; resembling: slavish; prudish; boyish.
3. somewhat; approximately: yellowish; sevenish.
4. concerned or preoccupied with: bookish.
[Old English -isc; related to German -isch, Greek -iskos]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

-ish1

,
1. a suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the meanings “pertaining to” (British; Spanish); “after the manner of,” “having the characteristics of,” “like” (babyish; girlish; mulish); “addicted to,” “inclined or tending to” (bookish; freakish); “near or about” (fiftyish; sevenish).
2. a suffix forming adjectives from other adjectives, with the meanings “somewhat,” “rather” (oldish; reddish; sweetish).
[Middle English; Old English -isc; c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German -isc, Gothic -isks, Greek -iskos; akin to -esque]

-ish2

,
a formative occurring in verbs borrowed from French ( nourish; perish), used rarely to form verbs in English from Latin bases ( extinguish).
[< French -iss-, extended s. of verbs with infinitives in -ir « Latin -isc-, in inceptive verbs]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Translations

-ish

adj suf (+adj) → -lich; (+n) → -haft; (= approximately) → um … herum, circa; greenish → grünlich; coldish → ziemlich kalt; smallish → ziemlich klein; youngish → ziemlich jung; boyish → jungenhaft; fortyish → um vierzig herum, circa vierzig
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
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References in periodicals archive ?
It felt so right, and everybody could identify with what we meant--'-ish': something that falls outside a medical tick-box; 'normal-ish': something's not quite right but one won't put one's medical head on the block; 'ok-ish': better, but who knows what will happen?
We know that '-ish' has absolutely no place in the correct medical definitions of illness, but if everybody 'gets it', what could possibly be wrong with our description?
The medical dictionary 'tongue-in-cheek' edition
The aim of the present paper is to investigate the reasons for the significant decline in both the frequency and productivity of the suffix -ish in Middle English.
The analysis of the productivity of the suffix -ish in the period under discussion relies on the type value, as suggested by Dalton-Puffer and Cowie (2000).
The OE suffix -ish has been subject to only narrow interest as demonstrated in merely a few dictionary entries and short descriptions among other affixes found in some Old English grammars or histories of English.
-isc, modern -ish, a suffix of adjectives, connoting the quality of the object denoted by the stem, e.g.
The ME suffix -ish has been briefly treated by Jespersen (1942), Fisiak (1965, 1968 [2004]), Marchand (1969), OED online, Dalton-Puffer (1996) and the MED online.
Jespersen (1942: 323), Fisiak (1965: 65, 69, 1968 [2004]: 110), Marchand (1969: 243-244) and the OED online note that in Middle English the suffix -ish started to derive adjectives also from other adjectives and illustrate it with a few examples.
Dalton-Puffer (1996: 172), in her database, i.e., the first three subperiods of the Middle English part of the Helsinki Corpus (1150-1420), found -ish derivatives only from nouns.
-ish (suf.) Also -ishe, -sh(e, -i3 sh, -ishs, -esh(e, -i)sse, -Ose, -i)s, -ijs, -es(se, -as, -sae, -ce, -ez, -isc, -i)sce, -esc, -eisce, -ich(e, -ch(e, -i)chs, -ech & -iske.
The MED online treats 27 -ish derivatives as originating in Early Middle English.
As regards denominal formations, the suffix -ish in them assumes the sense 'a quality characteristic of'.
The Middle English suffix -ish: reasons for decline in productivity

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