Etymology

-est

Today it means: Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs. Full definition →

Middle English -est ← Old English -est ← Proto-West Germanic *-ist
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-est · suffix1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-istaz, *-ōstaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*-ist
  3. Old English · inherited from-est
  4. Middle English · inherited from-est
  5. English today-est

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.

-est · suffix2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*-si
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-zi
  3. Old English · inherited from-est, -ast, -st
  4. Middle English · inherited from-est, -st
  5. English today-est

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).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.