Meanings
-est1
- Used to form the superlative of adjectives and adverbs.
longest, biggest, fastest, motliest
-est2
alternative -'st · alternative -st
- archaicdialectalUsed 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
Origin
-est · suffix
- Proto-Germanic*-istaz, *-ōstaz
- Proto-West Germanic*-ist
- Old English-est
- Middle English-est
- English-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.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →-est · suffix
- Proto-Indo-European*-si
- Proto-Germanic*-zi
- Old English-est, -ast, -st
- Middle English-est, -st
- English-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).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اَلـ
- اَلـ (al--)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Basque -en
- -ensuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Catalan més
- méssuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Chinese Mandarin 最
- 最 (zuì)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Czech nej-, -eš
- nej-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -ešsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -íšsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ášsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Danish -est
- -estsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Dutch -ste, -t
- -stesuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -tsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Esperanto plej
- plejsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Finnish -in, -t
- -insuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -tsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
French plus, -es
- plussuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -essecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -issecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ssecond-person singular present tense of verbs
German -ster, -ste
- -stersuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -stesuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- am ...-stensuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -stsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Hungarian leg-, -sz
- leg-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -szsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -dsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -lsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Indonesian ter-, paling
- ter-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- palingsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Irish -air, -ir
- -airsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -irsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -aírsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -írsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Italian -i
- -i (for regular -are and -ere verbs and for those -ire verbs that don't take -isc-)second-person singular present tense of verbs
Japanese 一番, 最も
- 一番superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- 最も (mottomo)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- 最 (sai-)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Korean 가장, 제일
- 가장 (gajang)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- 제일 (jeil)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- 최(最)- (choe-)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Latin -as, -es
- -assecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -essecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -issecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ssecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Latvian -ākais, -ākā
- -ākaissuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -ākāsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Malay ter-
- ter-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Norwegian Bokmål -est, mest
- -estsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- mestsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Persian ترین
- ترین (tarin)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Polish naj-, najbardziej
- naj-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- najbardziejsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -eszsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -iszsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -yszsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -aszsecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Portuguese -as, -es
- -assecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -essecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Romanian mai, -i
- maisuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -isecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ezisecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -eștisecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Russian наи-, са́мый
- наи- (nai-)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- са́мый (sámyj)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- наибо́лее (naibóleje)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -е́йший (-éjšij)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -ешь (-ešʹ)second-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ёшь (-jóšʹ)second-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ишь (-išʹ)second-person singular present tense of verbs
- -ашь (-ašʹ)second-person singular present tense of verbs
Slovak naj-
- naj-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Spanish más, -as
- mássuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- -assecond-person singular present tense of verbs
- -essecond-person singular present tense of verbs
Swedish -ast, mest
- -astsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
- mestsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Tagalog pinaka-
- pinaka-superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Thai ...ที่สุด
- ...ที่สุด (...tîi-sùt)superlative of adjectives and adverbs
Turkish en
- ensuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Vietnamese ... nhất
- ... nhấtsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Welsh -af
- -afsuperlative of adjectives and adverbs
Cite this entry
-est. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-est
“-est.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-est. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-est,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-est.
Source: -est on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.