-esque

• -esq' (rare)

Borrowed from French -esque (“-ish, -ic, -esque”), from Italian -esco, from Latin -iscus, of Germanic origin, from Lombardic -isc (“-ish”), from Proto-West Germanic *-isk, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz (“-ish”), from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos.

Cognate with Old High German -isc (German -isch), Old English -isċ, Old Norse -iskr, Gothic -𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (-isks). Doublet of -ish and -ski.

• IPA^(key): /ɛsk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

-esque (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -esque, superlative most -esque)

1. In the style or manner of; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.

   Kafkaesque

   • 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 March 2013:

     When the album succeeds, such as on the swaggering, Queen-esque “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” it does so on The Darkness’ own terms—that is, as a random ’80s-cliché generator.

2. Resembling; appended to nouns, especially proper nouns, and forming adjectives.
   • 2022 November 25, B. Cost, “Man wins legal right to be 'boring' at work, gets $3K from company”, in New York Post‎^[2], NYP Holdings, archived from the original on 18 August 2025, retrieved 27 November 2022:

     Needless to say, Mr. T abstained from the "Wolf of Wall Street"-esque extracurriculars on grounds that he didn't agree with Cubik Partners' definition of "fun," per his testimony in court.

   • 2025 April 17, Linda Feldmann, “How Donald Trump is upending American culture”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[3], archived from the original on 20 April 2025:

     But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.

• (resembling): para-, -oid, -form/-iform, -ish, -ly, -some, -y, (restricted to casual registers) -ass, (forms adjectives from nouns only) -like

Note: these translations are a guide only. For more precise translations, see individual words ending in -esque.

• eques, squee

Borrowed from Italian -esco. Doublet of -ais and -ois.

• IPA^(key): /ɛsk/

-esque (adjective-forming suffix, plural -esques)

1. -esque

• → English: -esque