-esque, suffix
forming adjs., represents Fr. -esque, ad. It. -esco:—med.L. -iscus in words adopted from Teut.; cf. OHG. -isc (mod.G. -isch):—OTeut. -isko-: see -ish. Occurring in many words coming through Fr. from It., as in arabesque, burlesque, Dantesque, grotesque, romanesque, where the suffix has the sense ‘resembling the style partaking of the characteristics of’. In Ital. derivatives in -esco are formed ad libitum on names of artists, and Fr. and Eng. writers on art have imitated this practice. The words formed with this suffix on Eng. ns. are chiefly nonce-words of a jocular character, as cigaresque. Other formations separately noticed include Audenesque, Bramantesque, Browningesque, Caravagg(i)esque, Carlylesque, Chaplinesque, Dantonesque, Dickensesque, Disneyesque, Macaulayesque, Turneresque.