-essa

Inherited from Old Catalan -essa, from Latin -issa, from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈɛ.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈə.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈe.sa]

-essa f (noun-forming suffix, plural -esses)

1. -ess (female)

• This suffix is non-productive in modern Catalan, with either the usual feminine termination -a being employed, or the noun having a single form for both genders.

The inessive singular of -e-.

-essa (front vowel harmony variant -essä, linguistic notation -essA)

1. Forms the inessive case of the second infinitive of verbs.

Borrowed from English -ess, French -esse, Italian -essa, Portuguese -esa/Spanish -esa, Russian -е́сса (-éssa) all ultimately from Latin -issa from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

• IPA^(key): /ˈesa/

-essa

1. forms nouns from nouns, denoting a female; -ess

   Synonym: -a

   ‎conte (“count, earl”) + ‎-essa → ‎contessa (“countess”)

   ‎abbate (“abbot”) + ‎-essa → ‎abbatessa (“abbess”)

   ‎tigre (“tiger”) + ‎-essa → ‎tigressa (“tigress”)

• Alexander Gode, Hugh E. Blair (1955) Interlingua: A Grammar of the International Language, →ISBN

From Latin -issa, from Ancient Greek -ισσα (-issa).

• IPA^(key): /ˈes.sa/
• Rhymes: -essa
• Hyphenation: -és‧sa

-essa

1. -ess

• Mostly used to form the feminine of animate nouns. e.g. barone => baronessa
• Sometimes used ironically or in a disparaging manner. e.g. medico => medichessa

• -asse, Asse, asse