s

¹

abbreviation for

1. satisfactory.
2. signature.
3. small.
4. soft.
5. south.

's

²

1. an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (or witness' ), king of England's, or anyone's.

S

³

or s

[ es ]

noun

, plural S's or Ss, s's or ss.

1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
2. any spoken sound represented by the letter S or s, as in saw, sense, or goose.
3. something having the shape of an S .
4. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.
5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter S or s.

-s

⁴

1. a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs:

   always; betimes; needs; unawares.

S.

⁵

abbreviation for

1. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.

s

⁶

Symbol.

1. second.

's

⁷

1. contraction of is:

   She's here.

2. contraction of does:

   What's he do for a living now?

3. contraction of has:

   He's just gone.

S

⁸

abbreviation for

1. satisfactory.
2. Baseball. sacrifice ( def 6 ).
3. Baseball. save ¹( def 17 ).
4. Saxon.
5. sentence.
6. short.
7. Electricity. siemens.
8. signature.
9. single.
10. small.
11. soft.
12. Music. soprano.
13. South.
14. Southern.
15. state (highway).
16. Grammar. subject.

-s

⁹

1. an ending marking the third person singular indicative active of verbs:

   walks.

S.

¹⁰

abbreviation for

1. (in prescriptions) let it be written.

's

¹¹

Archaic.

1. a contraction of God's, as in 'swounds; 'sdeath; 'sblood.

S

¹²

Symbol.

1. the 19th in order or in a series
2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 7 or 70. Compare Roman numerals.
3. second.
4. Biochemistry. serine ( def ).
5. Thermodynamics. entropy ( def 1b ).
6. Physics. strangeness ( def 2 ).
7. Chemistry. sulfur ( def 1 ).

-s

¹³

1. an ending marking nouns as plural ( boys; wolves ), occurring also on nouns that have no singular ( dregs; entrails; pants; scissors ), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning ( clothes; glasses; manners; thanks ). The pluralizing value of -s3 is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games ( billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks ) and of diseases ( measles; mumps; pox; rickets ); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntary conditions, physical or mental ( collywobbles; d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies ). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenient states ( bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers ); -ers.

S.

¹⁴

abbreviation for

1. Fellow.

's

¹⁵

1. a contraction of us, as in Let's go.

-s

¹⁶

1. a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address:

   Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Sweetums; Toodles.

S.

¹⁷

abbreviation for

1. Sabbath.
2. Saint.
3. Saturday.
4. Saxon.
5. (in Austria) schilling; schillings.
6. School.
7. Sea.
8. Senate.
9. September.
10. shilling; shillings.
11. Signor.
12. Small.
13. Socialist.
14. Society.
15. sol ³( def 1 ).
16. South.
17. Southern.
18. (in Ecuador) sucre; sucres.
19. Sunday.

's

¹⁸

1. a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.

s.

¹⁹

abbreviation for

1. saint.
2. school.
3. second.
4. section.
5. see.
6. series.
7. shilling; shillings.
8. sign.
9. signed.
10. silver.
11. singular.
12. sire.
13. small.
14. society.
15. son.
16. south.
17. southern.
18. steamer.
19. stem.
20. stem of.
21. substantive.

-s

¹

suffix

1. forming the plural of most nouns

   boys

   boxes

-s

²

suffix

1. forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity

   Fingers

   ducks

   Fats

s

³

/ ɛs /

noun

1. the 19th letter and 15th consonant of the modern English alphabet
2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar fricative, either voiceless, as in sit, or voiced, as in dogs
3. 1. something shaped like an S
   2. ( in combination )

      an S-bend in a road

s

⁴

symbol for

1. second (of time)

S

⁵

symbol for

1. satisfactory
2. Society
3. small (size)
4. South
5. chem sulphur
6. physics
   1. entropy
   2. siemens
   3. strangeness
7. currency
   1. (the former) schilling
   2. sol
   3. (the former) sucre

abbreviation for

1. Sweden (international car registration)

-'s

⁶

suffix

1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns

   man's

   one's

2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s

   children's

3. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols

   20's

   p's and q's

4. informal.
   contraction of is or has

   he's here

   John's coming

   it's gone

5. informal.
   contraction of us with let

   let's

6. informal.
   contraction of does in some questions

   what's he do?

   where's he live?

-s'

⁷

suffix

1. forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns

   for goodness' sake

   girls'

S.

⁸

abbreviation for

1. SS Saint
2. school
3. Sea
4. Signor
5. Society

-s

⁹

suffix

1. forming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs

   he runs

   she washes

s.

¹⁰

abbreviation for

1. see
2. semi-
3. shilling
4. singular
5. son
6. succeeded

Usage Note

See contraction.

Word History and Origins

Origin of s¹

Middle English -es, Old English

Origin of s²

Middle English -es, Old English; ultimately identical with 's ¹

Origin of s³

From the Latin word signa

Origin of s⁴

Middle English (north) -( e ) s, Old English (north); originally ending of 2nd person singular, as in Latin and Greek; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth -eth ¹

Origin of s⁵

From the Latin word signētur

Origin of s⁶

Middle English - ( e ) s, Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of s⁷

From the Latin word socius

Origin of s⁸

Probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s ³, as boots or Goldilocks

Word History and Origins

Origin of s¹

from Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of s²

special use of -s ¹

Origin of s³

senses 1, 2: assimilated contraction from Middle English -es, from Old English, masculine and neuter genitive singular; sense 3, equivalent to -s ¹

Origin of s⁴

Latin socius

Origin of s⁵

from Old English (northern dialect) -es, -s, originally the ending of the second person singular