Gretchen McCulloch has a blog on ish on Slate.com. There is also seems a completely unrelated slang term ish used as a euphemism for shit.

Sue poses very interesting questions. Are there are two kinds of -ish, a noun suffix meaning -like which is derivational and fixed (childish, mannish, foolish) and another meaning "more or less" which can be used productively with adjectives (tallish, yellowish, temperamentalish) but also with times (sixish, noonish) and even nouns. Childish can be ambiguous: childish behavior, but also "Is he a child?" "He looks to be around 15, so child-ish." The latter would accent the second syllable.

Dick Veit


On Sun, Jul 13, 2014 at 8:26 AM, Susan Behrens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
A recent article in American Speech discusses the suffix -ish as lexicalizing,
i.e., changing from a grammatical marker to separate word status. For example,
"I am ish about the upcoming meeting."

My question: isn't -ish a derivational marker and not inflectional/grammar
functioning? OR are there two kinds: -ish that derives a new word (child vs.
childish) and -ish that acts as a type of adjective marker of degree (hungry
vs. hungryish).

Thanks, Sue Behrens
Marymount Manhattan College

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