-esce

American  

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

   convalesce; putresce.

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Usage

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.

Etymology

Origin of -esce

From the Latin suffix -ēscere