-ese

[eːzə]

/[eːzə]/ suffix

The verdict

“-ese” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
4
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht

Corpus desk

Index DE-ese · -ese · German

-ese · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "-" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for -ese
PropertyValue
Headword-ese
LanguageGerman
Part of speechSuffix
IPA[eːzə]
Letters4
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „-ese“ im Deutschen

-esesitzt jenseits der 100.000 häufigsten deutschen Formen, im Schwanz spezialisierten oder seltenen Wortschatzes.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

-ese is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed [eːzə]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht".

No generated misspelling entries exist for -ese in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is -ese, spelled --E-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how -ese appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ein Milanese ist ein Einwohner Mailands.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "-ese"?
"-ese" is spelled --E-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is [eːzə].
What does "-ese" mean?
As a suffix, "-ese" means: nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht
How do you pronounce "-ese"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "-ese" is [eːzə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "-ese" come from?
"-ese" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list