It is a suffix to specify that a person is a female person doing a job. A person may have the job of a steward; a female person doing that job is called a stewardess. A person who sews is a seamster (usually shortened to semptster); a female person doing that job is a seamstress. A person who does laundry is a launderer; a woman who does it is a laundress. A person who acts is an actor; a female person doing that job is an actress. And so on.
By extension, if a form with the -ess suffix is current, the root form is restricted to male persons.
ess
-ess can make certain titles into a feminine one. For example, Mayor and Baron become Mayoress and Baroness.
it is a suffix
A suffix is an ending. The suffixes "an" and "ian" mean of, or belonging to. An example of a suffix meaning belong to is Italian, meaning belonging to Italy.
The meaning of the greek suffix -onym is "word or name".
The suffix for a female lion is "-ess." So a female lion can be called a lioness.
The suffix for "lion" is "-ess" to refer to a female lion, such as lioness. For "host," the suffix would be "-ess" as well, to indicate a female host.
ess
A suffix for the two words would be 'ess' for lioness and stewardess.
-ess can make certain titles into a feminine one. For example, Mayor and Baron become Mayoress and Baroness.
The suffix of "confess" is "-ess," which is added to the base word "confess" to denote a person who performs the action of confessing.
Nouns with a suffix -ess are usually used to denote feminine versions of nouns, such as actress, waitress, or stewardess. These forms have been traditionally used in English to distinguish gender in certain occupations or roles.
The suffix meaning "stone" is "-ite."
The suffix meaning "to droop" is "-ly".
it is a suffix
The suffix meaning "hearing" is -acusis.
"-ess" is the English equivalent of -trix.Specifically, the Latin letters -trix constitute a suffix. They spell the feminine ending which replaces the masculine ending -tor in occupational and professional nouns in Latin. The equivalent action in English will involve replacing the masculine ending "-or" with the femining suffix "-ess".