Do you ever hear someone say,
“What time do you want to meet? How about 6ish?”
or
“How are you feeling? I feel a little hungryish.”
or
“She’s the girl wearing the blueish dress.”
or
“He looks about 30ish.”
Ish is an informal English suffix that can change the meaning of a word. When added to the end of a word it changes the meaning to approximately. It’s commonly used when describing age, time, feelings or in descriptions.
Think of ish as meaning:
a bit
around
like
similar
or mostly
So “6ish” means around 6 o’clock, but not exactly.
“Hungryish” means you are a little hungry but not completely hungry.
A “blueish” dress is mostly blue or a variation of blue.
“30ish” means he looks to be near 30 years old.
Do you use this suffix? What examples can you think of?
