suffisen
Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
- suffise, sufficen, suffice, suffysen, suffycen, souffise, souffice, suffichen, suffischen, suffycyn, suffyzyn, soffyce, sofysyn, soffysse, suffysse
Etymology edit
From Middle French souffire and Anglo-Norman suffiser, sufficer, from Old French sofire, from Latin sufficiō (“to supply, be adequate”), from sub (“under”) + faciō (“do, make”).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
suffisen (third-person singular simple present suffiseth, present participle suffisende, suffisynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle suffised)
- (intransitive) to be adequate for some purpose or need, to suffice, to be enough (+ for, to, unto, or til: for (something) or for (someone’s) needs; + to: to (do something); + of: regarding, on (some subject))
- (intransitive with for, theology) to atone for, to redeem the sins of (someone)
- (transitive) to be adequate for (someone’s) wants or needs, to satisfy
- (transitive) to feed (a person or animal)
- (transitive or intransitive with to) to allow, to permit, to suffer
- c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1450–1475 in Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 638, folio 110v:
- For Nature wolde nat ſuffyſe / To non erthly creature / Not longe tyme to endure / Without ſlepe & be yn ſorwe / And I ne may ne nyght ne morwe / Slepe […]
- For Nature will not allow / Any earthly creature / To survive for long / Without sleep, and sorrowing; / And yet I cannot, by night or morning, / Sleep, […]
- c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1450–1475 in Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 638, folio 110v:
- (transitive or intransitive with to) to be capable of, to be able to (do something)
- (transitive) to need, to require
- (intransitive or reflexive) to be content (+ to or unto: with)
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of suffisen (weak in -ed)
1Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- English: suffice
References edit
- “suffīsen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2023-11-08.