English

Suffix

-ese

1. 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.

   Viennese, Maltese falcon, Parmese, Japanese, Faroese, Viennese waltz

2. Used to form nouns meaning the jargon used by a particular profession or in a particular context.

   journalese, legalese, translationese

Usage notes

Generally speaking, nouns formed with the suffix -ese are considered to be uncountable ("two Viennese") or even collective ("the Ravennese") substantive adjectives. This is not always the case, particularly for speakers from East Asia who use it to translate demonyms such as 日本人 and 中国人, but such countable uses may have nonstandard meanings. For example, in some British dialects, "a Chinese" refers to a Chinese meal but not a Chinese person.

Derived terms

Translations

Note: these translations are a guide only. For more precise translations, see individual words ending in -ese.

See also

• -ess

Italian

Etymology

From Latin -ēnsem, accusative singular of -ēnsis ‎(“originating in”), whence also Italian -ense.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈeː.ze], [ˈeː.se]

Suffix

-ese m

1. -ese, -er

   londinese (et al.)

Derived terms

Related terms

• -esa