Goodish

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɡʊdɪʃ/

Definitions

1. Being moderately good or possessing qualities that are better than average but not excellent
2. Describing something as fairly satisfactory or acceptable, though not outstanding in quality
3. Indicating a degree of goodness that is noticeable but not strongly pronounced

Etymology: "Goodish" is about as plain as English compounds get: the adjective "good" with the suffix "-ish" attached, meaning fairly good or passably good. The suffix is the more interesting half. It descends from a Proto-Indo-European root for "kind" or "sort" and passed through Proto-Germanic into Old English as "-isc," meaning "belonging to" or "having the character of," which is why it once turned nouns into adjectives describing a kind or a nationality, as in "Danish" or "English." Over time the suffix loosened its tie to origin and grew into a way of softening qualities. Attached to "good," it produces a hedged judgement: something adequate, decent, not quite excellent. The formation is a straightforward case of an existing word plus a productive ending, so the story lies mostly in the suffix's long road from marking a people to marking a degree.

Synonyms: fairly good, somewhat good, moderately good

Antonyms: bad, poor, terrible, awful, atrocious