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In many accents, -en routinely gives up its vowel syllable when given additional suffixes. For example, fatten/ˈfæt.ən/ + -ing/-ɪŋ/ can be /ˈfæt.ən.ɪŋ/ or /ˈfæt.nɪŋ/.
Even in many accents where this habitual syllable deletion is less usual, the syllable loss may still predominate for certain formations that have become common words in their own right, such as gardener/ɡɑː(ɹ)d.nə(ɹ)/.
Syllable loss is sometimes prevented to avoid merging with more normalized derivatives, such as for keeping lightening/ˈlaɪt.ən.ɪŋ/ from being pronounced identically to the established term lightning/ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/ (notice the e is no longer written), even though they derive from a combination of lighten + -ing.
But syllable loss may resume with inflections that are not in danger of merging with an established word, such as enlightening, which can be pronounced /ɛnˈlaɪt.ən.ɪŋ/ or /ɛnˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/ because "enlightning" is not a common word.
Some linguistic writing on English, such as The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, uses -en as the name of an abstract morpheme which forms the past participle of all English verbs. Including ones which do not actually use the suffix -en are described as "cook + -en → cooked".
From Middle English-n (in words ending in a vowel: flee: fleen "flea: fleas") and -en. Noun plural marker (predominantly in Southern dialects of Middle English), from Old English nominative-accusative plural ending of weak nouns (n-stem declension); compare namam(“name”) + -en → naman(“names”); hlǣfdīġef(“lady”) + -en → hlǣfdīġan(“ladies”); ēaren(“ear”) + -en → ēaran(“ears”). Assisted by Middle English dative plural ending -n, -en from late O.E. -un, -on, weakened form of earlier -um. Akin to Old High German n-stem (compare namo: namon "name: names"), Latin n-stem (compare homo: homin-).
Used to denote the plural form of a small number of English nouns, the majority of whose etymologies go back to the n-stem (i.e. weak noun) declension of Germanic languages.
2007, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology:
There was one other user logged in, “scaredy,” and he checked the process monitor and saw that scaredy had spawned all the hundreds of processes that were probing him and plenty of other boxen.
2012, Jenny Lawson, Let's Pretend This Never Happened:
Victor and I are having a huge argument about whether or not to feed the foxen. Victor says yes, because they're adorable and— according to the neighbors—are quite tame. I say no, because we have a fat little pug who likes to frolic outside occasionally and I don't want to see him eaten. I thought we were on the same page about the fox, but then Victor went and threw an apple at it. And I was all, “What the fuck? We don't feed the foxen,” and he said, “I was throwing the apple at it to chase it away,” but Victor is a tremendous liar, and he didn't go to pick up the apple, probably because he knows that foxen love apple cider.
2015, David Greygoose, Brunt Boggart:
For now the boys grew whiskers and hung fox pelts from their shoulders and the girlen all wore scarlet skirts and braided ribbons through their hair.
Usage notes
Not productive, outside of occasional humorous use, particularly in computer hacker subculture. Notable examples are boxen, Unixen, VAXen, all of which are modelled on oxen.
This ending is also found on some plurals that were borrowed intact from Dutch or German, like klompen, lagerstätten, lederhosen.
When attached to certain adjectives, it forms a transitive verb whose meaning is, to make(adjective). Usually, the verb is ergative, sometimes not. The same construction could also be done to certain (fewer) nouns, as, strengthen, in which case the verb means roughly, "to give (noun) to", or "to become like (noun)".
Although -en is a very common verb ending, it is not currently very productive in forming new words, being mostly restricted to monosyllabic bases which end in an obstruent; new formations tend to be nonstandard or humorous.
When attached to certain nouns that are the names of a material, it forms an adjective whose meaning is, made of (noun). This is a formative pattern with many obsolescent remnants. Fowler (1926) pointed out the tendency for the -en forms to be restricted to metaphorical and secondary senses. Changes in the form of the root noun, and the dropping of the "e" in the suffix occur. There are also orphan formations whose root has been lost to the current language.
Current examples used in a literal and sometimes metaphorical sense:
1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender:, London: Hugh Singleton,, →OCLC; reprinted as H Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender, London: John C. Nimmo,, 1890, →OCLC:
And when the shining sunne laugheth once, You deemen the spring is come attonce. Tho gynne you, fond flyes, the cold to scorne, And, crowing in pypes made of greene corne, You thinken to be lords of the yeare.
1883, Charlotte Sophia Burne, Georgina Frederica Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings, page 46:
[…] but they tooken on 'em soft, an' maden out as they wun right glad to see 'em agen, an axt 'em to come in an' a some mate an' drink.
2010, Kathi Purnell, Silent Heroes, page 188:
Both of them had snow on their boots, and a little on the hems of their coats, but they weren't all froze cold like yesterday. “We tooken the bus,” RJ told us.
2014, John D. MacDonald, Deadly Welcome:
Sure you've seen me before, Doyle. Turkey Kimbroy and I, we tooken you over to Davis long time ago to he'p you get in the army.
Usage notes
Having begun to fade by the 15th century, it was used in Early Modern English primarily to show archaic or rustic speech.
The weakening and loss of the marker caused some verbs to blend with verbs marked by Etymology 3; for example, Middle Englishleren(“to teach”) blended with lernen(“to learn”), which resulted in learn having a (dialectal) double meaning.
References
↑ 1.01.11.21.3The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language by David Crystal (1995, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN), page 200
If the noun from which the singular definite is formed already ends in an unstressed schwa, this is not doubled: kage, kagen (but if the -e is stressed, a schwa is appended normally: ske, skeen; allé, alléen). If it ends with a consonant and the last vowel is short, the last consonant is usually doubled in native and nativized words, if it is one of {k, l, m, n, p, s, t}: hat, hatten. This is however not a reliable rule.
In most regions the final -n is silent except optionally in enunciation and as a hiatus breaker before a (typically unstressed) vowel in the following word. In western Belgium and parts of the north-eastern Netherlands, however, the /n/ is commonly sounded and may become syllabic , , (as in German, see below).
Suffix for the genitive plural. Usually preceded by the plural marker -i- or -j-, but may also have a consonant separator -d- after the plural marker if the words would otherwise have 3 consecutive vowels.
(possessive)A variant for the third-person suffix -nsa.
(personal)Forms the impersonal potential present forms of verbs. Appended to the impersonal potential stem, which consists of the first infinitive followed by the potential mood marker -ne-.
Accordingly, the suffix is also applied to verbs borrowed from other languages, and may be understood as the suffix for denominal verbs in general (actually -∅ derivation or conversion plus an inflectional suffix that happens to be part of the citation form of a German verb).
A suffix appended to some nouns in all of their plural forms. These nouns are so-called “weak” or “mixed” nouns; they are most often feminine, often masculine, rarely neuter.
A suffix appended to weak masculine nouns in all oblique cases of the singular, and to some mixed nouns in the singular dative and accusative
A suffix appended to most other nouns, the so-called “strong” nouns, in their plural dative
A suffix (in fact, the most common declensional ending) which is appended to determiners, adjectives, and participles, for multiple forms of all grammatical cases, both singular and plural.
kettő(“two”) + -en → ketten(“two people, two of us/you/them”)
Ketten vannak a szobában. ― There are two people in the room.
öt(“five”) + -en → öten(“five people, five of us/you/them”)
hét(“seven”) + -en → heten(“seven people, seven of us/you/them”)
Heten mentünk moziba. ― Seven of us went to the cinema.
kevés(“few”) + -en → kevesen(“few people, few of us/you/them”)
Sokan vannak a meghívottak, de kevesen a választottak. ― For many are called, but few are chosen.
ezer(“thousand”) + -en → ezren(“a thousand people, a thousand of us/you/them”)
Usage notes
(deadjectival adverb-forming suffix) Variants:
-n is added to words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.
-an is added to most back-vowel words ending in a consonant
-on is added to some back-vowel words ending in a consonant
-en is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant, as well as some front-vowel words ending in a vowel. Their original word-final vowel may be lost (e.g. könnyű) or supplemented with a consonant (e.g. bő, hű).
(denumeral and depronominal adverb-forming suffix) Variants:
-n is added to some (very few) words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.
-an is added to back-vowel words ending in a consonant
-en is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant, as well as some front-vowel words ending in a vowel. Their original word-final vowel may be lost (e.g. kettő).
(personal suffix, chiefly dialectal or archaic)Forms the indefinite third-person singular suffix (currently only in the imperative mood as part of -jen, formerly also occurring in the indicative).
forms nouns from verbs (called gerunds) or other nouns, usually describing either an event in which an action is carried out, or the result of that action; the equivalent of English-ing
From Old Norse-inn, past participle ending of strong verbs, from Proto-Norse-ᛁᚾᚨᛉ(*-inaz), from Proto-Germanic*-inaz, *-anaz(past participle ending of strong verbs). Replaced the native past participle ending of strong verbs (from Old English-en) in some words, which had weakened to -e or disappeared.
This suffix as a plural marker is most heavily used in early Middle English, and is generally favoured in southern dialects, whereas northern dialects largely supplanted it with -es early.
From Ancient Greek-ηνή(-ēnḗ), feminine form of -ηνός(-ēnós, added to place name to form an adjective), from -νός(-nós), alternative form of -νος(-nos), from Proto-Indo-European*-nós(creates verbal adjectives from roots).
Suffix for definite form singular of common gender nouns which end in a consonant, e.g. fisk(“fish”) + -en → fisken(“the fish”); see also -n.
Definite plural suffix for certain nouns; see also -na.
(neuter nouns ending in a consonant) träd(“tree”) + -en → träden(“the trees”)
(common-gender nouns in the fifth declension (with a suffixless plural) except for those ending in -are) gäss(“geese”) + -en → gässen(“the geese”)
(the irregular neuter plurals ögon ("eyes") and öron ("ears"))
Etymology 2
From Old Norse-inn, past participle ending of strong verbs.
Suffix
-en
Suffix for the past participle of verbs belonging to the fourth (strong) declension, e.g. sjunga(“sing”) + -en → sjungen(“sung”), skjuta(“shoot”) + -en → skjuten(“shot”).
Etymology 3
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “This certainly has multiple etymologies.”)
Suffix
-en
Suffix for indefinite form plural of only the neuter noun huvud(“head”), e.g. huvud(“head”) + -en → huvuden(“heads”).
Suffix which converts a few adjectives into adverbs, e.g. möjlig(“possible”) + -en → möjligen(“possibly”).
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “-en”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
Yucatec Maya
Suffix
-en
Suffix indicating the first-person singular present copular; added to nouns and adjectives