Inherited from Middle English -s, -es, from Old English -as, nominative-accusative plural ending of masculine a-stem (i.e. strong) declension nouns, from Proto-West Germanic *-ōs, from Proto-Germanic *-ōs, *‑ōz, from Proto-Indo-European *-es, *-oes (plural endings). The spread of this ending in later Middle English was once argued to have been the result of Anglo-Norman influence; however, -as was already the most common Old English plural marker (used in approximately 40% of Old English nouns), and was initially more common in the North of England where French influence was weakest, only later gradually spreading south, replacing the usual southern plural ending -en. Cognate with Scots -s (plural ending), Saterland Frisian -s (plural ending), West Frisian -s (plural ending), Dutch -s (plural ending), Low German -s (plural ending), Danish -er (plural ending), Swedish -r, -ar, -or (plural ending), Icelandic -ar (plural ending), Gothic -𐍉𐍃 (-ōs, nominative plural ending of a-stem masculine nouns). Not directly related to German -er (plural ending) which has a different origin.
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Morpheme Used to form regular plurals of nouns.
one computer → five computers; Kennedy → Kennedys; hanger-on → hangers-on; lapful → lapfuls; cul-de-sac → cul-de-sacs; standby → standbys; push-up → push-ups; gin and tonic → gin and tonics; pair → pairs; beef → beefs
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Morpheme Used to form many pluralia tantum (nouns that are almost or entirely without singular forms).
shorts
sunglasses
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Morpheme Forms names of sciences and fields of studies from adjectives (See Usage notes)
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Morpheme When appended to a number ending in at least one 0, expresses a range of numbers which share the digits before some or (usually) all of the 0s; frequently used for decades, centuries and temperatures.
We often look back on the 1960s [the years from 1960 to 1969] with rose-tinted glasses.
The Industrial Revolution went into full-swing during the 1800s [the years from 1800 to 1899 – but see usage notes].
3 more examples
The temperature today will be in the low 30s.
He placed in the 200s in the end.
High indicators of PFAS (in the 500s) were also found in a Chick-fil-A sandwich wrapper and in fiber bowls at Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant chain. Indicator levels in the 300s and 400s were found in a bag of cookies at Arby’s, bamboo paper plates at Stop & Shop, and in a bag for both cookies and French toast sticks at Burger King. Levels of PFAS indicators in the 200s were found in a Sweetgreen paper bag for focaccia, additional items at Cava, and in bags for french fries, cookies and Chicken McNuggets at McDonald’s.2022 March 25, Sandee LaMotte, “Dangerous chemicals found in food wrappers at major fast-food restaurants and grocery chains, report says”, in CNN:
From Middle English -(e)s (third-person singular ending), from Northumbrian Old English -es, -as (third-person singular endings). Gradually replaced the older -eth, from Old English -(e)þ, -aþ, during the Middle English and Early Modern English periods. It is predominantly believed that -(e)s is identical to the Old English second-person singular ending -es, -est (cf. archaic Modern English -est, as in thou singest). The use for the third-person singular would have been caused by speakers of Old Norse who switched to speaking English and confounded the endings due to analogy with their native tongue. In Old Norse, the second and third person singular indicative forms were identical (e.g. þú masar, hann masar; þú þekkir, hann þekkir; etc.). An alternative theory sees the shift from /θ/ in -eth to /s/ (later /z/) in -(e)s as a mere phonetic simplification due to the frequency of the ending, but the objection to this is that no such development can be observed anywhere else in English. Nevertheless the relative similarity in sound between both forms may have facilitated the spread of -es.
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Morpheme Used to form the third-person singular indicative present tense of verbs.
to eat → he eats
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Dialectal, Morpheme, Nonstandard Used in various other indicative present tenses
Alternative, Morpheme, Nonstandard Alternative form of -'s.
devils doorbell; dogs-bane; St. Marys; (obsolete) kings
-s
suffix
Etymology Modern sense in slang [circa 1936]. According to OED, a colloquial clipping of the hypocoristic diminutive suffix -sy. As AHD writes, -sy itself usually being informal, ironic and/or jocular, and possibly a combination of -s (“plural marker”) and conflation of -y as adjectival with its sense as a diminutive suffix (e.g., puppy, kitty), the latter notion probably from Scots.