dess

See also: Dess, deß, and dess.

English

Etymology 1

Probably a clipping of desperate.^[1]

Adjective

dess (comparative more dess, superlative most dess)

1. (MTE, slang) Unattractive, unappealing.
   • 2021 October 2, u/loading___help, “How did he even think he was getting away 😭”, in Reddit‎, r/Torontology, archived from the original on 8 June 2024:

     They're honestly some of the dumbest niggas I've ever seen p.o is the most dess block in Toronto

   • 2023 August 18, @CHICVGO, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 8 June 2024:

     Definitely need a few more female friends. This staying inside all the time/entertaining myself shit is dess. I am too young to be feeling this old due to a lack of friendships.

   • 2024 March 11, u/Click-Good, “Paperboy got hit up last night”, in Reddit‎, r/Torontology, archived from the original on 8 June 2024:

     These kids are so dess. Imagine going live with bullet holes and tubes coming out you. Lmao insanity

   • 2024 April 13, @FCGunnis, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 8 June 2024:

     Periods are dess asf!

Etymology 2

Noun

dess (plural desses)

1. Obsolete form of dais.

References

1. “TDOT SLANG TRANSLATION THREAD.”, in Reddit‎, r/Torontology, 2021 April 2, archived from the original on 8 June 2024: “Dess means desperate”

Further reading

• “dess”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “dess”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.
• Melissa Douglas, Shiyan Liang (2024) “dess”, in Eshe Mercer-James, Elaine Gold, editors, A Dictionary of English in Multicultural Toronto‎, Toronto, Ont.: Canadian Language Museum, archived from the original on 2024-05-15: “conventionally unattractive; insult.”

Anagrams

• ESDs, SDEs, SEDs, SSED, seds

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse þess, genitive of þat.

Adverb

dess

1. the, when used with two comparatives.

   Dess tynnere røret er, dess større er høydeforskjellen, ...

   The thinner the tube, the greater the difference in height, ... (Wikipedia Kapillarkrefter)

Derived terms

• dessuten

References

• “dess” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “dess_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛsː/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þess, masculine or neuter genitive singular of þat n.

Adverb

dess

1. the (With a comparative or more and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives.)

   Dess sterkare, dess betre.

   The stronger, the better.

Synonyms

• di
• jo

Determiner

dess

1. (rare, literary); possessive form of det.

Pronoun

dess

1. (rare, literary); possessive form of det.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• Dess (alternative capitalization)

Noun

dess m (definite singular dessen, indefinite plural dessar, definite plural dessane)

2. (music) D-flat

Derived terms

• dess-dur m

References

• “dess” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *dexswos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʲes/

Adjective

dess

1. right (side, as opposed to left)
   • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 17^b2

     a lleth o laim deiss

     with the half from the right hand

2. south

Inflection

o/ā-stem
Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	dess	dess	dess
Vocative	deiss* dess**
Accusative	dess	deiss
Genitive	deiss	deisse	deiss
Dative	dess	deiss	dess
Plural	Masculine	Feminine/neuter
Nominative	deiss	dessa
Vocative	dessu dessa†
Accusative	dessu dessa†
Genitive	dess
Dative	dessaib
Notes	*modifying a noun whose vocative is different from its nominative **modifying a noun whose vocative is identical to its nominative † not when substantivized

Derived terms

• andes

Descendants

• Irish: deas
• Manx: jiass
• Scottish Gaelic: deas

Mutation

Mutation of dess

radical	lenition	nasalization
dess	dess pronounced with /ð(ʲ)-/	ndess

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “dess”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Swedish

Alternative forms

• deß (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛsː/
• Rhymes: -ɛsː

Pronoun

dess

1. (possessive) its (3rd person singular inanimate common and neuter genitive)
2. At a specific given time, then

   Sen dess har de rivit stället

   Since then, they've torn the place down

   Till dess får du ha det så bra

   Until then, have a good time

3. (chiefly in some expressions) Synonym of desto

Declension

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					common	neuter	plural
singular	first	—	jag	mig, mej3	min	mitt	mina
	second	—	du	dig, dej3	din	ditt	dina
	third	masculine (person)	han	honom, han2, en5	hans
		feminine (person)	hon	henne, na5	hennes
		gender-neutral (person)1	hen	hen, henom7	hens
		common (noun)	den	den	dess
		neuter (noun)	det	det	dess
		indefinite	man or en4	en	ens
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina
plural	first	—	vi	oss	vår, våran2	vårt, vårat2	våra
	second	—	ni	er	er, eran2, ers6	ert, erat2	era
		archaic	I	eder	eder, eders6	edert	edra
	third	—	de, dom3	dem, dom3	deras
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina

Swedish personal pronouns

¹Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, though it remains limited.

²Informal

³Colloquial pronunciation spelling.

⁴Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.

⁵Informal, somewhat dialectal

⁶Formal address

⁷Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council

Noun

dess n

1. (music) D-flat; the note D♭

Declension

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	dess	dess
	definite	desset	dessets
plural	indefinite	dess	dess
	definite	dessen	dessens

Declension of dess

Related terms

• diss

Anagrams

• seds