-s

Meanings

1. Used to form regular plurals of nouns.
2. Used to form many pluralia tantum (nouns that are almost or entirely without singular forms).
3. Forms names of sciences and fields of studies from adjectives (See Usage notes)
4. 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.

1. Used to form the third-person singular indicative present tense of verbs.
2. Used in various other indicative present tenses

1. Used in the formation of certain English adverbs.

1. Possessive marker, indicating that an object belongs to the word bearing the marker.
2. Alternative form of -'s.

1. Hypocoristic suffix

1. Alternative spelling of 's.

Etymology

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.