-esce

1. a suffix appearing in verbs borrowed from Latin, where it had an inchoative meaning:

   convalesce; putresce.

Word History and Origins

Origin of -esce¹

From the Latin suffix -ēscere

Example Sentences

Dove entra il vino, esce la vergogna—When 35 wine enters modesty goes.

From Project Gutenberg

Come Titan del seno dell' aurora Esce, così con le mie pecorelle I monti cerco sema far dimora.

From Project Gutenberg

Da questa prouincia esce sopra il mare vn promontorio detto Rubro molto alto, & apparente chi nauiga.

From Project Gutenberg

Lugano is the Italian lake most lovingly encircled by mountain arms, and every height about it may be scaled with esce.

From Project Gutenberg

Words That Use -esce

What does -esce mean?

The suffix -esce is used to denote verbs that refer to beginning, in the sense of “having become” or “begin to be.” It is occasionally used in everyday and technical terms.

The form -esce comes from the Latin verbal suffix -ēscere, which is an inchoative (also known as inceptive) element meaning “to become, begin to be.” There are two equivalents of -ēscere in English: -en, as in darken and strengthen, and -fy or -ify, as in liquefy or simplify.

What are variants of -esce?

While -esce doesn’t have any variants, it is related to the forms -escence in nouns and -escent in adjectives. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles about -escence and -escent.

Examples of -esce

One example of a scientific term that uses the suffix -esce is phosphoresce, “to be luminous without sensible heat, as phosphorus.”

The first part of the word is an abbreviation of phosphorus, a chemical that emits a faint glow when exposed to oxygen, from Latin phōsphorus, meaning “morning star.” The suffix -esce means “to begin to be.” Phosphoresce roughly translates to “to begin to be [like] a star.”

What are some words that use the combining form -esce?

• convalesce (using the equivalent form of -esce in Latin)
• effloresce (using the equivalent form of -esce in Latin)
• opalesce
• putresce

What are some other forms that -esce may be commonly confused with?

• -ese
• -esque
• -ess

Break it down!

The Latin word for “to be well” is valēre (stem val-). With this in mind, what does convalesce mean?