-esque

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

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:

     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. But with so many tired, lazy callbacks to its own threadbare catalog (including “Love Is Not The Answer,” a watery echo of the epic “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” from 2003’s Permission To Land), Hot Cakes marks the point where The Darkness has stopped cannibalizing the golden age of stadium rock and simply started cannibalizing itself. And, despite Hawkins’ inveterate crotch-grabbing, there was never that much meat there to begin with.

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, NYP Holdings, retrieved 2022-11-27:

     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.

• (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 (plural -esques)

1. -esque

• → English: -esque