English

-'s

/s/
A possessive marker, indicating that an object belongs to the noun or noun phrase bearing the marker.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English -s, -es, from Old English -es (“-'s”, masculine and neuter genitive singular ending), from Proto-Germanic *-as, *-is (masculine and neuter genitive singular ending). The apostrophe was added under the false belief that it was a contraction of English his, and retained to distinguish it from the plural. Cognate with Dutch -s, -es (“-'s”), German -s, -es (“-'s”), Danish -s, -es (“-'s”), Swedish -s (“-'s”), Norwegian -s (“-'s”), Icelandic -s (“-'s”).

    Etymology 2

    Equivalent to -s, with addition of apostrophe.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle English-s
      • inheritedOld English-es “-'s”
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*-as

    Related: Dutch -s, German -s, Danish -s, Swedish -s, Norwegian -s, Icelandic -s

    Words built on it: its, -s, that's, needs

    Sources