- indicating place of origin, language, or style: Cantonese, Japanese, journalese
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
-ese, suffix.
- -ese is attached to nouns that refer to certain place names:
- to form adjectives that describe things made in or relating to the place:Japan + -ese → Japanese (= of or relating to Japan or its people);
Vienna + -ese → Viennese (= of or relating to Vienna or its people) - to form nouns with the meanings "the people living in (the place)'' or "the language of (the place)'':Vietnam + -ese → Vietnamese (= the people living in/the language spoken in Vietnam).
- to form adjectives that describe things made in or relating to the place:Japan + -ese → Japanese (= of or relating to Japan or its people);
- -ese is also used to form nouns that describe in an insulting or humorous way the language characteristic of or typical of the base word:Brooklyn + -ese → Brooklynese (= the language characteristic of Brooklyn);journal + -ese → journalese (= the language typical of journalists).
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
-ese suffix forming adjectives , suffix forming nouns
ESE,
-ese,
- Nautical, Surveying, Naval Termseast-southeast.
-ese,
- a suffix forming adjectival derivatives of place names, esp. countries or cities;
frequently used nominally to denote the inhabitants of the place or their language:Faroese; Vietnamese;Viennese.By analogy with such language names, -ese occurs in coinages denoting in a disparaging, often facetious way a characteristic jargon, style, or accent:Brooklynese; journalese;computerese.
- Latin -ēnsem -ensis
- Italian -ese, later representing Spanish, Portuguese -es, French -ais, -ois, all
- probably origin, originally
'-ese' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Cantonese
- ESE
- Faeroese
- Gabonese
- Genoese
- Jap.
- Madurese
- Milanese
- Nepalese
- Pekingese
- Timorese
- Vietnamese
- academese
- Adenese
- Ambonese
- Andamanese
- Angolese
- Annamese
- Aragonese
- Assamese
- Balinese
- Béarnaise
- Bengalese
- Beninese
- Bernese
- Bhutanese
- Bolognese
- Bordelaise
- Brooklynese
- bureaucratese
- burgess
- Burmese
- calabrasella
- Ceylonese
- Chinese
- computerese
- Congolese
- courteous
- ease
- east-southeast
- écossaise
- educationese
- -ensis
- Faroese
- federalese
- governmentese
- Guianese
- heartsease
- Japanese
- japonaiserie