The suffix -esque, similar to the suffix -like, means in a manner of or resembling. It is a living suffix, so we can attach it to virtually any English noun without using a hyphen.
Examples
Since the rise of software spell-check, which erroneously marks many -esque coinages as incorrect, writers have grown timid about attaching -esque without the hyphen. For example, the hyphen is not technically needed in any of these cases:
Ever since he showed up on the music scene as a marvelously talented teenager, there’s been a hint of Sinatra-esque swagger around Harry Connick Jr. [New York Daily News]
In previous versions, the beast has tended to be animalistic, even lion-esque. [Toronto Sun (article now offline)]
A cherry phosphate has always seemed wonderfully Capra-esque to me, even though I had no idea what was in it. [The Atlantic]
But other writers are not so timid about adding the suffix to words—for example:
… his sharp suits and his love of a killer melody are Sinatraesque. [Arts Desk]
Smiling down, I would acknowledge my ferocious, lionesque producer . . . [Christian Science Monitor]
In large part that’s because Bates is brilliant at juggling Kelley’s Capraesque mix of the whimsical and the weighty. [Belleville News Democrat (article now offline)]
