-est

See also: est, Est, EST, êst, ēst, est., and Est.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: ĭst, IPA^(key): /ɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General Australian) enPR: əst, IPA^(key): /əst/

Etymology 1

From Middle English -est, from Old English -est, -ost, from Proto-West Germanic *-ist, *-ōst, from Proto-Germanic *-istaz, *-ōstaz, related to comparative -er. Cognate of Afrikaans -ste, Dutch -st, German -(e)st, Danish -(e)st, Swedish -(a)st.

Via PIE cognate with Ancient Greek -ιστος (-istos), see Pleistocene, protist.

Suffix

-est

1. Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs.

   longest, biggest, fastest, motliest

Usage notes

• See -er for notes on the usage of this suffix to form superlatives.
• Occasionally, the -est suffix is added to a verbal adjective as a substitute for most. An example is winningest.

Coordinate terms

• -er

Related terms

• -most

Translations

superlative of adjectives and adverbs

Arabic: اَلـ (ar) (al--) (a superlative pattern of the adjective) Armenian: ամենա- (amena-), -գույն (-guyn) Basque: -en Breton: -añ (br) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Catalan: més (ca) (before the adjective or adverb, after the definite article) Cebuano: kina- -an Chinese: Mandarin: 最 (zh) (zuì) (prefix) Czech: nej- (cs) Danish: -est Dutch: -ste (nl) Esperanto: plej (eo) Finnish: (for adjectives) -in (fi) French: plus (fr) (before the adjective, after the definite article) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: -ster m, -ste f, am ...-sten (adverbs) Hungarian: leg- (hu) Indonesian: ter- (id), paling (id) Japanese: 一番 (ja) (いちばん, ichiban; placed before the adjective), 最も (ja) (もっとも, mottomo), 最 (ja) (さい, sai-) (Sino-Japanese prefix) Jeju: ᄀᆞ장 (gawjang), 제일 (jeil), 지중 (jijung) Khmer: ...ជាងគេ (…ciəng kei) Korean: 가장 (ko) (gajang), 제일(第一) (ko) (jeil), 최(最)- (choe-) (Sino-Korean prefix) Lao: ...ທີ່ສຸດ (thī sut) Latvian: -ākais m, -ākā f Malay: ter- (ms) Mongolian: хамгын (xamgyn) Norwegian: Bokmål: -est, (before most long adjectives or adverbs) mest (no) Nynorsk: -ast, (before most long adjectives or adverbs) mest Persian: ترین (fa) (tarin) Polish: naj- (pl), najbardziej (before the adjective or adverb) Portuguese: mais (pt) used with definite article Romanian: mai (ro) (before the adjective or adverb, after the demonstrative article) Russian: наи- (ru) (nai-) (prefix before comparative forms), са́мый (ru) (sámyj) (before adjectives in the normal form), наибо́лее (ru) (naibóleje) (before adjectives in the normal form), -е́йший (-éjšij), -а́йший (-ájšij) (suffixes follow an adjective form) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: нај- Roman: naj- (sh) Slovak: naj- Spanish: (before the adjective or adverb, after the definite article) más (es) Swedish: -ast (sv) (1), mest (sv) (before the adjective or adverb) (1) Tagalog: pinaka- (tl) Thai: ...ที่สุด (th) (...tîi-sùt) Turkish: en (tr) Vietnamese: ... nhất (vi) (一 (vi)) Welsh: -af Yoruba: jù lọ

Etymology 2

From Middle English -est, -st, from Old English -est, -ast, -st, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *-zi, from Proto-Indo-European *-si. The -t was by transfer from inverted order where thou followed the verb, which also occurred in most dialects of Middle Dutch and Middle High German (compare modern German -st).

Suffix

-est

1. (archaic, dialectal) Used to form the second-person singular present tense and past tense of verbs. (if thou is the subject; not used with you)

   goest, makest, wentest, madest

Alternative forms

• -'st, -st

Translations

second-person singular present tense of verbs

Czech: -eš, -íš, -áš Dutch: -t (nl) Finnish: -t (fi) French: -es (fr) (for regular -er verbs); -is (fr) (for regular -ir verb); -s (fr) (for most -re verbs) German: -st Hungarian: -sz, -d (hu), -l (hu) Irish: -air (broad synthetic form, 1st conjugation), -ir (slender synthetic form, 1st conjugation), -aír (broad synthetic form, 2nd conjugation), -ír (slender synthetic form, 2nd conjugation) Italian: -i (it) (for regular -are and -ere verbs and for those -ire verbs that don't take -isc-) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: -î (ku) Latin: -as, -es, -is, -s Polish: -esz, -isz, -ysz, -asz Portuguese: -as (pt) (1st conjugation), -es (pt) (2nd and 3rd conjugation) Romanian: -i (most verbs), -ezi (some 1st conjugation verbs), -ești (some 4th conjugation verbs) Russian: -ешь (-ešʹ), -ёшь (-jóšʹ), -ишь (-išʹ), -ашь (-ašʹ) Spanish: -as (es), -es (es)

See also

• -eth
• thou

Anagrams

• tes, Tse, StE, set, TSE, Set, seṭ, ETS, STE, tse, ETs, TEs, Ste, Ste., SET

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin -istī.

Suffix

-est

1. Used to form the second person plural preterite indicative of second conjugation verbs

Usage notes

• This form fell out of use, being largely replaced by the analogical ending -eres.

Hungarian

Etymology

From -es (adjective-forming suffix) +‎ -t (adverb-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɛʃt]

Suffix

-est

1. (adverb-forming suffix) Added to a word to form an adverb.

   ‎öröm (“joy”) + ‎-est → ‎örömest (“with joy”)

Usage notes

• (adverb-forming suffix) Variants:

  -st

  -est

Derived terms

Hungarian adverbs suffixed with -est

mihelyest

örömest

valamelyest

Middle English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• -ist

Suffix

-est

1. Used to form the second-person singular present indicative of verbs.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English -est, from Proto-West Germanic *-ist, from Proto-Germanic *-istaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-istHos, from *-yōs + *-tHós.

Suffix

-est

2. Forms the superlative of adjectives

Descendants

• English: -est
• Scots: -est

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /est/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *-ustaz, *-istaz.

Alternative forms

• -ost, -ust

Suffix

-est

1. suffix forming feminine nouns, originally from verbs

   eornost ― earnest

   þēnest ― service

   ofost ― haste

   orrest ― battle, combat

Declension

Strong ō-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	-est	—
accusative	-este	—
genitive	-este	—
dative	-este	—

Derived terms

Old English terms suffixed with -est

orrest

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *-ist, from Proto-Germanic *-istaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-istHos, from *-yōs + *-tHós.

Suffix

-est

1. alternative form of -ost (“used to form superlative adjectives and adverbs”)

   ‎glēaw (“wise”) + ‎-est → ‎glēawest (“wisest”)

   ‎late (“late”) + ‎-est → ‎latest (“latest”)

   ‎smæl (“narrow; small”) + ‎-est → ‎smælest (“narrowest; smallest”)

Declension

Declension of -est — Weak only

Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	-esta	-este	-este
Accusative	-estan	-estan	-este
Genitive	-estan	-estan	-estan
Dative	-estan	-estan	-estan
Instrumental	-estan	-estan	-estan
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	-estan	-estan	-estan
Accusative	-estan	-estan	-estan
Genitive	-estra, -estena	-estra, -estena	-estra, -estena
Dative	-estum	-estum	-estum
Instrumental	-estum	-estum	-estum

Descendants

• Middle English: -est
  • English: -est
  • Scots: -est

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• -es — Anglian

Suffix

-est

1. Forms the second-person singular of class I weak verbs

   ‎fremman (“to perform”) + ‎-est → ‎fremest (“you perform”)

Welsh

Alternative forms

• -aist

Pronunciation

• • IPA^(key): /ɛsd/, [ɛst]

Suffix

-est

1. (colloquial) verb suffix for the second-person singular preterite

Derived terms

Category Welsh terms suffixed with -est not found