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-s¹ or -es

suff.

Used to form plural nouns: letters; ashes.

[Middle English -es, -s, from Old English -es, -as, nominative and accusative pl. suff.]

-s² or -es

suff.

Used to form the third person singular present tense of all regular and most irregular verbs: looks; holds; goes.

[Middle English -es, -s, from Old English (Northumbrian) -es, -as, alteration (perhaps influenced by Old Norse) of -eth, -ath.]

-s³

suff.

Used to form adverbs: They were caught unawares. He works nights.

[Middle English -es, -s, genitive sing. suff., from Old English -es.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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