-ese
[eːzə]
The verdict
“-ese” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a suffix - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | -ese |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | [eːzə] |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “-ese” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for -ese is 4 letters long, classified as a suffix, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [eːzə]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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
- 1nachgestelltes Wortbildungselement, das aus Toponymen, Ortsnamen/Ländernamen die Bezeichnung für den Einwohner macht
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
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Using “-ese”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is --E-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [eːzə] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.