-'s

-'s

suff.

Used to form the possessive case of singular nouns, plural nouns that do not end in s, certain pronouns, and phrases that function as nouns or pronouns: nation's; women's; another's; the girl next door's cat.

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[Middle English -s, -es, from Old English -es, genitive sing. suff.]

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-'s

suffix

1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns man's one's

2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s children's

3. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols 20's p's and q's

4. Informal contraction of is or has he's here John's coming it's gone

5. Informal contraction of us with let let's

6. Informal contraction of does in some questions where's he live? what's he do?

[senses 1, 2: assimilated contraction from Middle English -es, from Old English, masculine and neuter genitive singular; sense 3, equivalent to -s¹]