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-full. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-full, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-full in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-full you have here. The definition of the word
-full will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
-full, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Suffix
-full
- Now uncommon spelling of -ful.
- bowl-full
Usage notes
- In current usage, only standard for forming nouns (e.g., cheerfull is now a misspelling).
- For nouns, both forms have historically been considered acceptable; e.g., Weld’s Progressive English Grammar provides both spoonful and bowl-full as examples.[1] Now usually hyphenated (e.g., bowl-full instead of bowlfull), though both the spelling -ful and spaced compounds with full are more common (e.g., bowl full); however, the plural is rarely formed by suffixing -s instead of pluralizing the noun when spaced (e.g., bowl fulls versus bowls full), unlike with -full (bowl-fulls/bowlfulls or bowls-full/bowlsfull) and may be considered nonstandard.
References
- ^ Allen H Weld (1859) “The Noun”, in George Payn Quackenbos, editor, Weld’s Progressive English Grammar, Illustrated with Copious Exercises in Analysis, Parsing, and Composition, Adapted to Schools and Academies of Every Grade, Portland, Me.: O. L. Sanborn & Company; Boston, Mass.: Chase & Nichols; Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co, part II (Words), page 44: “Nouns ending in ful and full, and compounds in which the principal word stands last, annex s or es, to form their plural; as, spoonful, spoonfuls; bowl-full, bowl-fulls; man-trap, man-traps; step-son, step-sons.”
Middle English
Suffix
-full
- Alternative form of -ful (“-ful”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
See also
Norwegian Nynorsk
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
See also
Old English
Pronunciation
Suffix
-full
- Alternative form of -ful
Declension
Declension of -full — Strong
Declension of -full — Weak
Swedish
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
Derived terms