-Esque words
The suffix ‑esque, despite its strange spelling and foreign sound, can be found in many words in English, such as Arabesque, picturesque, Romanesque, and grotesque. These words mean wildly different things, but they all use the ending ‑esque to mean “indicating style, manner, resemblance, or distinctive character.” For example, Romanesque means roughly “Roman-like,” although it is used to specifically describe architecture and art from a particular period in European history.
The ending ‑esque comes from the Italian suffix ‑esco through French. Despite all the extra letters (that’s French for you), the suffix ‑esque is pronounced simply “esk.”
Many words that feature the suffix ‑esque are eponyms, or “a word based on or derived from a person’s name.” One example of an eponym ending in ‑esque is Thatcheresque, meaning “in a manner resembling Margaret Thatcher.” As we will see, you can stick ‑esque to the end of just about anyone’s name. It’s most commonly used to designate a style of art, music, architecture, or other creative pursuit associated with a particular person.
It’s not just people that get this treatment, either; places do, too. If you put ‑esque at the end of a placename, you get a toponym, or “a name derived from the name of the place.” A classic example of this is Hollywoodesque (or Hollywoodish), meaning “of or relating to Hollywood.”
We are going to look at some of the most interesting examples of words in English that end in ‑esque. Perhaps it will inspire you to come up with a neologism (or maybe even a hapax legomenon) of your own.