-ess

Etymology 1
From, borrowed from , from , from. Displaced.

Suffix

 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.
 * 1)  The wife of.

Usage notes

 * Professions ending in -ter or -tor change to -tr when this suffix is added.
 * A female sempster is a sempstress; a female actor is an actress.
 * However, there are also terms with -ter-ess.
 * Additionally, sometimes terms ending in -der/-dor can change to -dr when this suffix is added. Other changes are: -ger to -gr, -per to -pr, -pher to -phr.
 * Additionally, sometimes terms ending in -der/-dor can change to -dr when this suffix is added. Other changes are: -ger to -gr, -per to -pr, -pher to -phr.


 * Professions ending in -e lose an e when this suffix is added.
 * A female prince is a princess.
 * As in Romance languages, the masculine form may be used when referring to both males and females; however, in other cases using the masculine and feminine forms together may be preferred.
 * Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were very popular actors.
 * The zoo has a breeding pair of tigers.
 * Twelve gods (or: Twelve gods and goddesses) form the Greek pantheon.
 * but: A procession of dukes and duchesses filed into the coronation.
 * The unusual word denotes males (the -ess ending is not this suffix; the feminine is ).
 * This suffix is sometimes regarded as sexist and as such is starting to fall into disuse, particularly when referring to professions. A single, gender-neutral term is preferred by some even though it is a less specific term. Many terms such as or  are considered dated and rarely used outside of historical references, and other forms such as  or  are virtually obsolete. Usage is divided on words such as  or, which remain common but are deprecated by some, including some women who hold those positions. Use with titles of nobility is still universal (prince is never used to refer to a woman outside of special circumstances, only princess).
 * Glenda Jackson is a famous actor.
 * Glenda Jackson is a famous actress. More specific language signaling that Glenda is a female.
 * Depending on etymology, other feminine affixes are used; see synonyms.

Translations

 * Albanian: -onje, -eshë
 * Arabic:
 * Bengali:, -ইনী, -নী, -আ
 * Breton:
 * Burmese:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: ,
 * Danish: -inde
 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:, ,
 * Galician: -esa
 * German: (, -öse)
 * Greek:
 * Classical: -ῐσσᾰ
 * Modern:
 * Hebrew: -ה, -ית
 * Hindi: -नी
 * Hungarian: -nő
 * Ido: -ino
 * Interlingua: -essa, -a
 * Irish: ban-
 * Italian: -essa
 * Latin: ,
 * Norman: -êsse
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:, -ske, -esse
 * Old English: -en
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:, -esa
 * Romanian:, -easă
 * Russian:, , -ица, -ница, -и́са, -е́сса, , -чица, -иня, -ыня, -и́ха, , -у́ха
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Volapük:
 * Welsh:


 * Hungarian:

Etymology 2
From, from.