-esce

See also: esce and -ešce

English

Etymology

From Latin -ēscō (“to grow, become a certain way”, an inchoative suffix). Compare -ish (Etymology 2).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-ˈɛs/

Suffix

-esce (verb-forming suffix, third-person singular simple present -esces, present participle -escing, simple past and past participle -esced)

1. Used to form verbs from nouns, following the pattern of verbs derived from Latin verbs ending in -esco

Usage notes

• This is a termination of verbs of Latin origin, having usually an inchoative force, as in convalesce (“begin to be well”) or effervesce (“begin to boil up”), though less obvious in some verbs, as coalesce.
• The present participle of such verbs appears in English as adjectives with the termination -escent, as in effervescent, but such adjectives often exist without a corresponding verb with -esce.
• The noun is terminated with -escence, as in convalescence or effervescence.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -esce

effloresce

opalesce

phosphoresce

Related terms

other terms ending in -esce

• coalesce
• convalesce
• deliquesce
• effervesce
• evanesce
• luminesce

suffixes

• -escence (and its derivatives)
• -escent (and its derivatives)

References

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “-esce”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume II, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 2002, column 2.

Anagrams

• cese, EECS, cees