-les
See also: Appendix:Variations of "les"
Middle English
Alternative forms
- -las, -lasse, -læs, -leas, -lease, -leæs, -lees, -lese, -lesse, -lez, -lies, -liese, -lis, -lise, -lyas, -lyese
Etymology
Inherited from Old English -lēas (“-less”) (akin to lēas (“devoid of, loose from, false”)), from Proto-West Germanic *-laus, from Proto-Germanic *-lausaz, from *lausaz (“loose”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /-lɛːs/, /-lɛs/
Suffix
-les
Usage notes
- -les and its variants are affixed to nouns in order to form adjectives denoting absence of that noun.
Derived terms
Middle English terms suffixed with -les
- armles
- bonles
- catelles
- causeles
- childrenles
- cloudeles
- comfortles
- defautles
- drinkeles
- fereles
- fleshles
- groundles
- harmles
- husbondles
- witles
Descendants
References
- “-lē̆s, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 6 April 2018.
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /les/
Suffix
-les
- genitive singular of -el