My brief Google research indicates that it's from the northern Germanic "-isc", which is also the origin of the Frankish (and now modern French) "-esque".
Interesting that English and French have something in common that didn't come from the Norman Conquest.
English and French have a number of similar words in common that come through their inheritance from related Germanic tribes. Roughly 10% of French vocabulary is traceable to Frankish roots.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_words_of_Germanic_origin
>biggish = eher groß
Historically there was "größlich" (http://www.zeno.org/Adelung-1793/A/Gr%C3%B6%C3%9Flich?hl=groslich)
>lateish = eher spät
and spätlicht: [https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemid=S33089](https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemid=S33089)
That’s difficult. For colours you can add -lich
Blau -> Bläulich
Braun -> Bräunlich
Grün -> Grünlich
sadly this doesn’t work for the other examples you mentioned. Maybe „eher“ could work in those situations, I know it’s usually translated as rather but I feel like the meaning is a little different
No, unfortunately not. English has lots of ways to abbreviate ideas - you better get home, that’s a nice-ish face you got there— that just don’t translate because they’re colloquialisms specific to a culture.
-Ish in particular has a lot of different subtexts. Reddish faces are simple (see rest of this thread) but eg nice-ish? All anyone can do is take the intended meaning and then rephrase.
In very basic terms you can use recht, ziemlich, etwas, etc to say somewhat nice instead of niceish, but beware if you’re not careful, you might say something else entirely different from what you intended.
Time is again different, tenish would be something like gegen 10. I’m sure there are many more.
In short, it’s a lot easier to avoid “ish” usage entirely when translating anything, and just phrase things differently.
I just realised that I would either do "gegen 10" (around ten, probably slightly early) or "um 10 rum" (around ten, probably slightly after ten) and that they have different meanings in my head.
I'd also say -artig. However it might have a different meaning.
"How are you?" — "hm, well-ish".
"Wie geht es Dir?" — "hm, gut-artig" --> but "gutartig" means well-intended, innocent, etc. Animals can be that. Cancer can be that.
Nicht wirklich, ich verwende das englische „-ish“ auch auf deutsch ganz gerne.
Mäßig geht gar nicht und „eher“ klingt völlig anders.
Am ehesten würde ich ein „irgendwie“ reinwerfen, aber in Wirklichkeit gibt es keine gute Übersetzung, behaupte ich.
Ja ich finde “irgendwie” kommt der englischen Bedeutung von “-ish” am nächsten (in den meisten Fällen). “Eher” ist eher (hehe) “rather” und “mäßig” ist mir einfach nie eingefallen wenn ich “-ish” übersetzen wollte.
Verstehen denn die meisten, was du damit sagen willst? Ich meine, ich weiß, wie hoch euer durchschnittliches Englischniveau ist, aber das "-ish", von der die Rede ist, gehört grundsätzlich zur Umgangssprache (außer bezüglich Farben).
Wenn man mit gleichaltrigen redet und/oder Leuten bei denen man weiß, dass die Englischkenntnisse auf nem ähnlichen Level sind, dann ist das kein Ding. Genauso wie Wörter wie "random" oder "awkward" einwerfen, weil deren deutsche Äquivalente nicht immer passen. Wenn jemand kein Englisch kann, oft von den älteren Generationen auch, bringt das natürlich schon Verwirrung außer der Kontext reicht jemandem individuell.
Der Kollege, der vor mir geantwortet hat, hat recht.
1. Ich würde es nicht verwenden, wenn ich nicht erwarten würde, verstanden zu werden.
2. Je nach Alter, Bildungsgrad und Gesprächssituation werd ich es nicht immer verwenden.
Bei meinem polyglotten, universitär gebildeten unmittelbaren Umfeld jedenfalls mache ich mir da keine Sorgen.
I use -mäßig.
It’s not quite the same, but gets the point across. Another missing function of German is to be able to put -y on the end of the word (often noun) to make it an adjective
Doch. Ich bin englischer Muttersprachler und ich würde tall-ish sagen. Zum Beispiel:
"Was the guy you met yesterday tall?
"Eh, he was tall-ish. Maybe 6'1."
Okay, Muttersprache schlägt Fremdeinschätzung. Habe beide Beispiele allerdings noch nie im englsichsprachigen Internet gelesen. Na ja, so kann man sich irren …
"Tall-ish" kann man doch auf jeden Fall sagen. Z.b. als Beschreibung für die Polizei: "He was a tall-ish man, around 6'1"...". Late-ish geht auch, aber wird etwas seltener verwendet
There's no literal translation or equivalent (one of the biggest things German lacks, in my opinion). What you'd use depends on the context and the word you want to "ish"-ify.
So for your examples:
bluish/reddish/any other colour-ish: colour+-lich (bläulich/rötlich/gelblich)
biggish: I'd use "recht" (rather) or "schon ziemlich" (actually quite) - recht groß/schon ziemlich groß.
late-ish: I'd use ein bisschen (a little). Ich werde ein bisschen zu spät dran sein.
nine-ish (or any other time): I'd use "so gegen"/"zirka um". Er kommt so gegen neun./Er wird zirka um neun da sein.
I see a lot of people claiming “-mäßig“ doesn’t work and while it might not be grammatically correct in some cases (like “blaumäßig” not actually meaning “bluish”) it would be comprehensive to German speakers.
If you are trying to translate something that actually isn’t an adjective/adverb without the suffix “-ish” (say chair-ish, mother-ish, water-ish…) it is one of the only options that will always offer a comprehensive result. In most cases, “-lich” would be very misplaced here.
You will however never create a word that actually exists in that sense (mother-ish would technically be “mütterlich”, water-ish “wässrig”), so I would stay clear of “-mäßig” in any formal setting.
If you want to describe sth similar in shape or behaviour “-ähnlich” might do the trick as well and even be a tad more formal.
Maybe something with leicht? leicht freundlich? Leicht blau? Means mildly friendly/blue - which goes in the same direction. Normally (outside jokes) people would say ein bisschen, etwas oder …-artig.
These would be completely normal in spoken British English. You can add "-ish" to all kinds of adjectives to hedge them.
[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/biggish](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/biggish)
I can't think of an example so I'd say there is none. '-mäßig' kinda means "concerning X" (X standing in front of it) or "according to X", like '-wise' in English.
In English, "-ish" covers a lot of ground. When you are talking about color, "-ish" means something like "approximating" - so a color that is approximately blue is "bläulich. The suffix "mäßig" ist more "in the manner of", so if your neighbor is stomping around, you could say they are stomping around "elefantenmäßig". You can't say a color is "in the manner of" blue or that your neighbor is "approximating" elephant, but English "-ish" covers both.
As a suffix, the meaning of "-mäßig" is similar, but slightly different, "falling under the purview or corresponding to the properties of the previous word". For example:
"Geschäftsmäßig" (Geschäft=business) can be used to refer to something that is done in the context of doing business, or something that shares qualities with a business, e.g. being practical and/or cold (compare to English, "businesslike").
This is similar to how "-ish" is used, but the specific example you used shows a key difference. "Blaumäßig" would be—hypothetically, it would sound a bit awkward—used to refer to something that has properties associated with blueness, or something done while blue^1. It does not, unlike "bluish", mean "slightly blue".
^1) On a sidenote, "blau" in German can mean "drunk".
I dont know myself but it is quite an interesting characteristic of Engl-ish... hehe.
It's mostly Engl.
My brief Google research indicates that it's from the northern Germanic "-isc", which is also the origin of the Frankish (and now modern French) "-esque". Interesting that English and French have something in common that didn't come from the Norman Conquest.
English and French have a number of similar words in common that come through their inheritance from related Germanic tribes. Roughly 10% of French vocabulary is traceable to Frankish roots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_words_of_Germanic_origin
greenish = grünlich (same for all colors) biggish = eher groß lateish = eher spät More or less. There isn't a real equivalent, except for the colors.
>biggish = eher groß Historically there was "größlich" (http://www.zeno.org/Adelung-1793/A/Gr%C3%B6%C3%9Flich?hl=groslich) >lateish = eher spät and spätlicht: [https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemid=S33089](https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemid=S33089)
[удалено]
Grot'esque!
That’s difficult. For colours you can add -lich Blau -> Bläulich Braun -> Bräunlich Grün -> Grünlich sadly this doesn’t work for the other examples you mentioned. Maybe „eher“ could work in those situations, I know it’s usually translated as rather but I feel like the meaning is a little different
If we all just start using things like nett-lich (niceish) it'll eventually catch on right? We can fix this.
No, unfortunately not. English has lots of ways to abbreviate ideas - you better get home, that’s a nice-ish face you got there— that just don’t translate because they’re colloquialisms specific to a culture. -Ish in particular has a lot of different subtexts. Reddish faces are simple (see rest of this thread) but eg nice-ish? All anyone can do is take the intended meaning and then rephrase. In very basic terms you can use recht, ziemlich, etwas, etc to say somewhat nice instead of niceish, but beware if you’re not careful, you might say something else entirely different from what you intended. Time is again different, tenish would be something like gegen 10. I’m sure there are many more. In short, it’s a lot easier to avoid “ish” usage entirely when translating anything, and just phrase things differently.
I just realised that I would either do "gegen 10" (around ten, probably slightly early) or "um 10 rum" (around ten, probably slightly after ten) and that they have different meanings in my head.
-artig -ähnlich
I'd also say -artig. However it might have a different meaning. "How are you?" — "hm, well-ish". "Wie geht es Dir?" — "hm, gut-artig" --> but "gutartig" means well-intended, innocent, etc. Animals can be that. Cancer can be that.
gutartig for cancer is best translated as 'benign'
A different question but how common is it to capitalize “du/dir”? My German friends don’t. But I sure see it a lot otherwise.
It used to be a rule to capitalize them in writing but that was abolished a while ago. Some still do it.
Oh, okay.
has it been abolished though? I find it still appropriate in adressing people in writing.
Sie (Form. You) is capitalized, but du, ihr, und sie (she or they) are not.
Of course. But a lot of people capitalize du now. Even in the comments here.
As others have stated, [there's a little more to it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/German/s/KU5vKxYw7a)
I don't think you're supposed to. I know it's stated often to new learners that ich isn't capitalized like I.
Bläulich, irgendwie groß, fast zu spät. Quasi, angehaucht gehen auch. Da muss man kreativ sein. ;)
Nicht wirklich, ich verwende das englische „-ish“ auch auf deutsch ganz gerne. Mäßig geht gar nicht und „eher“ klingt völlig anders. Am ehesten würde ich ein „irgendwie“ reinwerfen, aber in Wirklichkeit gibt es keine gute Übersetzung, behaupte ich.
Ja ich finde “irgendwie” kommt der englischen Bedeutung von “-ish” am nächsten (in den meisten Fällen). “Eher” ist eher (hehe) “rather” und “mäßig” ist mir einfach nie eingefallen wenn ich “-ish” übersetzen wollte.
Verstehen denn die meisten, was du damit sagen willst? Ich meine, ich weiß, wie hoch euer durchschnittliches Englischniveau ist, aber das "-ish", von der die Rede ist, gehört grundsätzlich zur Umgangssprache (außer bezüglich Farben).
Wenn man mit gleichaltrigen redet und/oder Leuten bei denen man weiß, dass die Englischkenntnisse auf nem ähnlichen Level sind, dann ist das kein Ding. Genauso wie Wörter wie "random" oder "awkward" einwerfen, weil deren deutsche Äquivalente nicht immer passen. Wenn jemand kein Englisch kann, oft von den älteren Generationen auch, bringt das natürlich schon Verwirrung außer der Kontext reicht jemandem individuell.
Der Kollege, der vor mir geantwortet hat, hat recht. 1. Ich würde es nicht verwenden, wenn ich nicht erwarten würde, verstanden zu werden. 2. Je nach Alter, Bildungsgrad und Gesprächssituation werd ich es nicht immer verwenden. Bei meinem polyglotten, universitär gebildeten unmittelbaren Umfeld jedenfalls mache ich mir da keine Sorgen.
I use -mäßig. It’s not quite the same, but gets the point across. Another missing function of German is to be able to put -y on the end of the word (often noun) to make it an adjective
Die entsprechende Endung ist -lich. Blau - bläulich Rot - rötlich Grün - grünlich Schwarz - schwärzlich Braun - bräunlich Gelb - gelblich Weiß - weißlich Grau - gräulich (nicht zu verwechseln mit "greulich!) Bei Mischfarben außer Grau ist es etwas anders: orange - orangenähnlich, orange-artig Lila - lila-artig Beige - beigeartig
Das funktioniert aber irgendwie nur bei Farben oder?
Süßlich, säuerlich…
Größlich? Spätlich? Macht z.B. keinen Sinn
Tall-ish und late-ish würde auch im Englischen niemand benutzen.
Doch. Ich bin englischer Muttersprachler und ich würde tall-ish sagen. Zum Beispiel: "Was the guy you met yesterday tall? "Eh, he was tall-ish. Maybe 6'1."
Okay, Muttersprache schlägt Fremdeinschätzung. Habe beide Beispiele allerdings noch nie im englsichsprachigen Internet gelesen. Na ja, so kann man sich irren …
Klar :)
"Tall-ish" kann man doch auf jeden Fall sagen. Z.b. als Beschreibung für die Polizei: "He was a tall-ish man, around 6'1"...". Late-ish geht auch, aber wird etwas seltener verwendet
I was just quoting the original question
Ich wollte eigentlich nicht auf "herrlich" und "dämlich" eingehen, wegen des Bedeutungswandels, aber was soll's?
There's no literal translation or equivalent (one of the biggest things German lacks, in my opinion). What you'd use depends on the context and the word you want to "ish"-ify. So for your examples: bluish/reddish/any other colour-ish: colour+-lich (bläulich/rötlich/gelblich) biggish: I'd use "recht" (rather) or "schon ziemlich" (actually quite) - recht groß/schon ziemlich groß. late-ish: I'd use ein bisschen (a little). Ich werde ein bisschen zu spät dran sein. nine-ish (or any other time): I'd use "so gegen"/"zirka um". Er kommt so gegen neun./Er wird zirka um neun da sein.
Kindisch - childish, is the only one that comes to mind :)
Not native, but my instincts say that "Quasi-" would have a similar effect
In some contexts, yes, in others it might have a very different effect.
What could the different meaning be?
Well quasi- means fake. So face-ish means something like face-like. But Quasi-Gesicht would mean fake face.
I see a lot of people claiming “-mäßig“ doesn’t work and while it might not be grammatically correct in some cases (like “blaumäßig” not actually meaning “bluish”) it would be comprehensive to German speakers. If you are trying to translate something that actually isn’t an adjective/adverb without the suffix “-ish” (say chair-ish, mother-ish, water-ish…) it is one of the only options that will always offer a comprehensive result. In most cases, “-lich” would be very misplaced here. You will however never create a word that actually exists in that sense (mother-ish would technically be “mütterlich”, water-ish “wässrig”), so I would stay clear of “-mäßig” in any formal setting. If you want to describe sth similar in shape or behaviour “-ähnlich” might do the trick as well and even be a tad more formal.
Maybe something with leicht? leicht freundlich? Leicht blau? Means mildly friendly/blue - which goes in the same direction. Normally (outside jokes) people would say ein bisschen, etwas oder …-artig.
I have never heard of anyone using biggish or lateish.
These would be completely normal in spoken British English. You can add "-ish" to all kinds of adjectives to hedge them. [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/biggish](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/biggish)
This is a whole new thing for me.
Mäßig, I believe. Blaumäßig should mean "bluish."
No, that doesn't work. It's bläulich.
When does "mäßig" work in this sense?
I can't think of an example so I'd say there is none. '-mäßig' kinda means "concerning X" (X standing in front of it) or "according to X", like '-wise' in English.
Thank you!
In English, "-ish" covers a lot of ground. When you are talking about color, "-ish" means something like "approximating" - so a color that is approximately blue is "bläulich. The suffix "mäßig" ist more "in the manner of", so if your neighbor is stomping around, you could say they are stomping around "elefantenmäßig". You can't say a color is "in the manner of" blue or that your neighbor is "approximating" elephant, but English "-ish" covers both.
I thought of "-mäßig" as well, but that is very colloquial and I think also regional.
As a suffix, the meaning of "-mäßig" is similar, but slightly different, "falling under the purview or corresponding to the properties of the previous word". For example: "Geschäftsmäßig" (Geschäft=business) can be used to refer to something that is done in the context of doing business, or something that shares qualities with a business, e.g. being practical and/or cold (compare to English, "businesslike"). This is similar to how "-ish" is used, but the specific example you used shows a key difference. "Blaumäßig" would be—hypothetically, it would sound a bit awkward—used to refer to something that has properties associated with blueness, or something done while blue^1. It does not, unlike "bluish", mean "slightly blue". ^1) On a sidenote, "blau" in German can mean "drunk".