Wiktionary

-'

See also: -ꞌ, and '

English

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Pronunciation

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Pronunciation of -s', -es':

Particle

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-’

  1. Possessive marker used on plurals that end with -s (or -es, etc).
    Her heart leapt when she saw the expressions on her teachers’ faces.
    their faces’ expressions
    The countesses’ husbands were generally quite lavish.
  2. Possessive marker sometimes used on singular names which end in s, indicating than an object belongs to the noun bearing the marker.
    Jesus' disciples
    Chris' cake recipe
    • 2014 August 29, Minyvonne Burke, “Robin Williams Death: Actor’s Ghost Haunting Home He Died In, Playing Practical Jokes?”, in HNGN Headlines & Global News‎[1]:
      Robin Williams’ ghost has apparently stuck around and is haunting the California home the actor died in.
    • 2023 May 4, 0:09 from the start, in GOP Megadonor Harlan Crow Paid Tuition For Clarence Thomas’ Relative, Report Says‎[2], Forbes:
      GOP donor and real estate magnate Harlan Crow paid thousands of dollars in tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew, who he served as the legal guardian for, ProPublica reports, without the justice disclosing it, the latest in a series of controversies involving Thomas’ financial relationship with Crow that have sparked ethics concerns and calls for Thomas to resign.

Usage notes

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  • The plural possessive -s’ can be distinguished from the possessive marker -' on nouns that terminate in -s and from the possessive marker -'s (which see). Whether they are pronounced identically or differently varies between idiolects. The BBC prescribes the following distinction:[1] (a) Dickens novel and Dickens’ novel /dɪkɪnz nɒvəl/, Dickens’s novel /dɪkɪnzɪz nɒvəl/; princess’s and princesses’ /pɹɪn.sɛs.ɪz/; i.e. adding bare ’ does not change pronunciation. Some speakers, however, may pronounce one or both as /ɪz/, i.e. Dickens’ as /ˈdɪkɪnzɪz/, princesses’ as /pɹɪn.sɛs.ɪz.ɪz/, and e.g. boys’ as /bɔɪzɪz/ (instead of the more common /bɔɪz/).
  • Traditionally, the possessives of classical and Biblical names ending in s, such as Archimedes and Jesus, were written without a final “s”, i.e. the possessives were formed using bare ': Archimedes’ Principle (the principle of Archimedes), Jesus’ disciples (the disciples of Jesus). This may or may not be be distinguished from -'s in pronunciation; see -'s for more. The American Heritage Dictionary (under the entry "possessive") extends this to other words or names having at least two syllables, such as Dickens' or witness'. In modern English, the practice in fact extends to all names ending in s, i.e. both "Chris' recipe" and "Chris's recipe" are found:
    • 2009, Karen Hitchcock, Little White Slips, →ISBN:
      Sam, the Lebanese milk bar man, followed Chris's recipe.
    • 2012, Jack Edward Shay, Bygone Binghamton: Remembering People and Places of the Past, →ISBN:
      That was Chris' recipe.
  • -’ may also be used on nouns ending in an s sound (i.e., not necessarily ending in the letter s).
    • 1845, Katherine Thomson, Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745: John Erskine, Earl of Mar. James Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater. The Master of Sinclair. Cameron of Lochiel, page 118:
      The dose must be carefully made up, and no appearance of its comeing from any other hand but the Doctrix’ own.
    • 1943, Reports of Selected Cases Decided in the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court and Other Courts of the State of New York Other Than the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court: Miscellaneous Reports, page 282:
      An application by the fiduciaries of the testatrix’ estate for an extension of time to permit the filing of a renunciation on behalf of a beneficiary who postdeceased the testatrix and for approval of same is denied without prejudice to a renewed application on notice to those persons whose interest may be created or increased by the proposed renunciation (EPTL 2-1.11), i.e., the personal representative of the estate of the renouncing party and if there is no fiduciary, the renouncing party’s distributees, since they may be prejudiced by approval of the application.
    • 2022, Lee M. Fratantuono, R. Alden Smith, “Commentary”, in Virgil, Aeneid 4: Text, Translation, Commentary, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 386:
      We remember here Juno’s similar state of indignation at 1.39 quippe vetor fatis; cf. 1.661 quippe domum timet ambiguam Tyriosque bilinguis (the rationale for Venus’ machinations with Cupid in Carthage); 12.421–422 … subitoque omnis de corpore fugit / quippe dolor …, of Iapyx’ successful ministrations of Aeneas’ arrow wound after Venus had intervened invisibly with the dittany.

References

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  1. ^ Learning English: Use of the apostrophe

Danish

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Suffix

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-'

  1. forms the possessive of words ending in s, x or z

See also

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German

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Suffix

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-'

  1. Genitive suffix for words that end in a sibilant consonant. For other names, -s is used.
    Synonym: (dated) -ens
    Hans' Mutter
    Hans' mother

Usage notes

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Norwegian

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Suffix

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-'

  1. Used to form the genitive of nouns that already end in -s, -x or -z. For other nouns, -s is used.
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