s

¹

abbreviation

1. satisfactory.

2. signature.

3. small.

4. soft.

5. south.

's

²

1. an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (orwitness' ), king of England's, or anyone's.

S

³

Or s

[es]

noun

plural

S's, Ss, s's, ss. 

1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter S or s, as in saw, sense, or goose.

3. something having the shape of an S .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter S or s.

-s

⁴

1. a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs.

   always; betimes; needs; unawares.

S.

⁵

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.

s

⁶

Symbol.

1. second.

's

⁷

1. contraction of is:

   She's here.

2. contraction of does:

   What's he do for a living now?

3. contraction of has:

   He's just gone.

S

⁸

abbreviation

1. satisfactory.

2. Baseball.,  sacrifice.

3. Baseball.,  save.

4. Saxon.

5. sentence.

6. short.

7. Electricity.,  siemens.

8. signature.

9. single.

10. small.

11. soft.

12. Music.,  soprano.

13. South.

14. Southern.

15. state (highway).

16. Grammar.,  subject.

-s

⁹

1. an ending marking the third person singular indicative active of verbs.

   walks.

S.

¹⁰

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) let it be written.

's

¹¹

Archaic.

1. a contraction of God's, as in 'swounds; 'sdeath; 'sblood.

S

¹²

Symbol.

1. the 19th in order or in a series

2. (sometimes lowercase),  the medieval Roman numeral for 7 or 70.

3. second.

4. Biochemistry.,  serine.

5. Thermodynamics.,  entropy.

6. Physics.,  strangeness.

7. Chemistry.,  sulfur.

-s

¹³

1. an ending marking nouns as plural (boys; wolves ), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; entrails; pants; scissors ), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (clothes; glasses; manners; thanks ). The pluralizing value of -s3 is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games (billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks ) and of diseases (measles; mumps; pox; rickets ); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntary conditions, physical or mental (collywobbles; d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies ). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenient states (bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers ); -ers.

S.

¹⁴

abbreviation

1. Fellow.

's

¹⁵

1. a contraction of us, as in Let's go.

-s

¹⁶

1. a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address.

   Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Sweetums; Toodles.

S.

¹⁷

abbreviation

1. Sabbath.

2. Saint.

3. Saturday.

4. Saxon.

5. (in Austria) schilling; schillings.

6. School.

7. Sea.

8. Senate.

9. September.

10. shilling; shillings.

11. Signor.

12. Small.

13. Socialist.

14. Society.

15. sol.

16. South.

17. Southern.

18. (in Ecuador) sucre; sucres.

19. Sunday.

's

¹⁸

1. a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.

s.

¹⁹

abbreviation

1. saint.

2. school.

3. second.

4. section.

5. see.

6. series.

7. shilling; shillings.

8. sign.

9. signed.

10. silver.

11. singular.

12. sire.

13. small.

14. society.

15. son.

16. south.

17. southern.

18. steamer.

19. stem.

20. stem of.

21. substantive.

S

¹

symbol

1. satisfactory

2. Society

3. small (size)

4. South

5. chem sulphur

6. physics

   1. entropy

   2. siemens

   3. strangeness

7. currency

   1. (the former) schilling

   2. sol

   3. (the former) sucre

abbreviation

1. Sweden (international car registration)

-'s

²

suffix

1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns

   man's

   one's

2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s

   children's

3. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols

   20's

   p's and q's

4. informal,  contraction of is or has

   he's here

   John's coming

   it's gone

5. informal,  contraction of us with let

   let's

6. informal,  contraction of does in some questions

   where's he live?

   what's he do?

s.

³

abbreviation

1. see

2. semi-

3. shilling

4. singular

5. son

6. succeeded

S.

⁴

abbreviation

1. Saint

2. school

3. Sea

4. Signor

5. Society

s

⁵

/ ɛs /

noun

1. the 19th letter and 15th consonant of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar fricative, either voiceless, as in sit, or voiced, as in dogs

3. 1. something shaped like an S

   2. ( in combination )

      an S-bend in a road

-s

⁶

suffix

1. forming the plural of most nouns

   boys

   boxes

-s

⁷

suffix

1. forming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs

   he runs

   she washes

-s

⁸

suffix

1. forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity

   Fats

   Fingers

   ducks

-s'

⁹

suffix

1. forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns

   girls'

   for goodness' sake

s

¹⁰

symbol

1. second (of time)

Usage

See contraction.

See contraction.

Word History and Origins

Origin of S¹

Middle English -es, Old English

Origin of S²

Middle English -es, Old English; ultimately identical with 's ¹

Origin of S³

From the Latin word signa

Origin of S⁴

Middle English (north) -( e ) s, Old English (north); originally ending of 2nd person singular, as in Latin and Greek; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth -eth ¹

Origin of S⁵

From the Latin word signētur

Origin of S⁶

Middle English - ( e ) s, Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of S⁷

From the Latin word socius

Origin of S⁸

Probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s ³, as boots or Goldilocks

Word History and Origins

Origin of S¹

senses 1, 2: assimilated contraction from Middle English -es, from Old English, masculine and neuter genitive singular; sense 3, equivalent to _-s ¹

Origin of S²

Latin socius

Origin of S³

from Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of S⁴

from Old English (northern dialect) -es, -s, originally the ending of the second person singular

Origin of S⁵

special use of _-s ¹

Example Sentences

Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter Friday to California’s home insurer of last resort, asking it to process smoke-damage claims stemming from the Jan. 7 wildfires “expeditiously and fairly.”

From Los Angeles Times

The plan, operated and financially backed by the state’s licensed home insurers, including State Farm General, has been deluged with nearly 5,000 claims after its rolls grew following the withdrawl of insurers from the state’s troubled insurance market.

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax.”

From Los Angeles Times

Polls show that a majority of the president’s Republican voters support vaccines.

From Los Angeles Times

The president’s agenda suffered several setbacks this week, as federal judges across the country ruled his administration had broken the law in various instances.

From Los Angeles Times