-esque

/ɛsk/

suffix

In the style or manner of; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.

“Kafkaesque”

Similar
para--oid-form-iform-ish-ly-some-y
OriginFrench -esque ← Italian -esco ← Latin -iscus →
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Meanings

suffix-esque (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -esque, superlative most -esque)

comparative more -esque · superlative most -esque · alternative rare -esq'

  1. In the style or manner of; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.

    Kafkaesque

    1 more example

    When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator.

    2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2013
  2. Resembling; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.

    Needless to say, Mr. T abstained from the "Wolf of Wall Street"-esque extracurriculars on grounds that he didn't agree with Cubik Partners' definition of "fun," per his testimony in court.

    2022 November 25, B. Cost, “Man wins legal right to be 'boring' at work, gets $3K from company”, in New York Post, NYP Holdings, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2025, retrieved 27 Nov 2022
    1 more example

    But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.

    2025 April 17, Linda Feldmann, “How Donald Trump is upending American culture”, in The Christian Science Monitor, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2025

    Synonyms: para-, -oid, -form, -iform, -ish, -ly, -some, -y

Synonyms & antonyms

suffixResembling; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.

Similar
para--oid-form-iform-ish-ly-some-y-ass-like
Also see
-an-ass-form-ish-like-ly-oidpara-quasi--y

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*-iskos
  2. Proto-Germanic*-iskaz“-ish”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*-isk
  4. Lombardic-isc“-ish”
  5. Latin-iscus
  6. Italian-esco
  7. French-esque“-ish, -ic, -esque”
  8. English-esque

Borrowed from French -esque (“-ish, -ic, -esque”), from Italian -esco, from Latin -iscus, of Germanic origin, from Lombardic -isc (“-ish”), from Proto-West Germanic *-isk, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz (“-ish”), from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos. Cognate with Old High German -isc (German -isch), Old English -isċ, Old Norse -iskr, Gothic -𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (-isks). Doublet of -ish and -ski.

More words from French, Italian, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan -esc
  • -escin the style of
Chinese Mandarin -式的, -似的
  • -式的 (... shì de)in the style of
  • -似的 (... shì de)resembling
Danish -isk, -agtig
  • -iskin the style of
  • -agtigresembling
  • -lignenderesembling
Dutch -esk, -esk
  • -eskin the style of
  • -eskresembling
Esperanto -eca, -eska
  • -ecain the style of
  • -eskain the style of
  • laŭ-…-ain the style of
  • -ecaresembling
  • -similaresembling
  • -ŝajnaresembling
Finnish -mainen, -mainen
  • -mainenin the style of
  • -mainenresembling
French -esque, -esque
  • -esquein the style of
  • -esqueresembling
German -esk
  • -eskin the style of
Hungarian -i, -szerű
  • -iin the style of
  • -szerűresembling
Italian -esco
  • -escoin the style of
Japanese っぽい
  • っぽい (-ppoi)in the style of
Polish -owski, -owy
  • -owskiin the style of
  • -owyresembling
Portuguese -esco, -esco
  • -escoin the style of
  • -escoresembling
Romanian -esc
  • -escin the style of
Russian -е́скный, -подо́бный
  • -е́скный (-ésknyj)in the style of
  • -подо́бный (-podóbnyj)resembling
Spanish -esco, -esco
  • -escoin the style of
  • -escoresembling
Swedish -isk, -iskt
  • -iskin the style of
  • -isktin the style of
  • -aktigin the style of
  • -likresembling
  • -liktresembling
  • -aktigresembling
Turkish -esk, -vari
  • -eskin the style of
  • -variin the style of
  • -selin the style of
  • -cein the style of
  • -eskresembling
  • -variresembling
Cite this entry
APA

-esque. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-esque

MLA

“-esque.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-esque. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-esque,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-esque.

Source: -esque on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.