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enough. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
enough, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
enough in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
enough you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English ynogh, from Old English ġenōg (“enough”), from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ganuganą 'to suffice' (compare Old English ġeneah), or from *ga- + an unattested *nōgaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nó(n)ḱe (“he has reached, attained”), perfective of *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”) (compare Old Irish tánaic (“he arrived”), Latin nancisci (“to get”), Lithuanian nèšti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to please, satisfy”), Ancient Greek ἐνεγκεῖν (enenkeîn, “to carry”).).
Pronunciation
Determiner
enough
- Sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate.
- Used before a noun in the manner of words like some, a bit of, and so on.
I've already had enough coffee today.
- (archaic) Used after a noun.
There is food enough for us all.
1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:But it wasn’t ransom enough.
His captors accepted it all,
But didn’t let go of the king.
Usage notes
When used after a noun, the article is omitted, and it often describes an inherent adjectival quality of that noun rather than a tangible portion. Thus one hears
- He is man enough for the job
- He is the man enough for the job.
- He is a man enough for the job.
Descendants
Translations
sufficient
- Aghwan: 𐕗𐕒𐕡 (ṗu)
- Albanian: mjaft (sq)
- Arabic: كَافٍ (ar) (kāfin)
- Egyptian Arabic: كفاية (kefāya)
- South Levantine Arabic: كفاية (kifāye)
- Armenian: բավականաչափ (hy) (bavakanačʿapʿ), բավական (hy) (bavakan)
- Azerbaijani: yetərli
- Basque: aski, nahiko
- Belarusian: дастатко́ва (dastatkóva), даво́лі (davóli)
- Bengali: যথেষ্ট (bn) (jotheśṭo)
- Bulgarian: достатъчно (bg) (dostatǎčno), дово́лно (bg) (dovólno)
- Burmese: လောက် (my) (lauk), တော် (my) (tau)
- Catalan: prou (ca), suficient (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 夠/够 (zh) (gòu), 足夠/足够 (zh) (zúgòu), 充足 (zh) (chōngzú), 足 (zh) (zú)
- Czech: dost (cs)
- Danish: nok (da)
- Dutch: genoeg (nl), voldoende (nl)
- Esperanto: sufiĉa (eo)
- Estonian: piisavalt
- Ewe: nyo
- Finnish: tarpeeksi (fi), riittävästi (fi), kylliksi (fi), kyllin (fi)
- French: assez (fr)
- Galician: bastante, abondo (gl)
- Georgian: საკმარისი (saḳmarisi), საკმაო (saḳmao)
- German: genug (de)
- Greek: αρκετός (el) (arketós)
- Ancient: ἱκανός (hikanós), ἀρκετός (arketós)
- Gujarati: પૂરતું (pūrtũ)
- Hebrew: מספיק (he) (maspík), די (he) (dái)
- Hindi: पर्याप्त (hi) (paryāpt), काफ़ी (hi) (kāfī)
- Hungarian: elég (hu), elegendő (hu)
- Icelandic: nógur (is)
- Ingrian: kylläst
- Irish: dóthain f (+ genitive)
- Italian: abbastanza (it)
- Japanese: 十分 (ja) (じゅうぶん, jūbun), 充分 (ja) (じゅうぶん, jūbun), 足りる (ja) (たりる, tariru)
- Khmer: គ្រប់គ្រាន់ (krup kroan)
- Korean: 충분히 (ko) (chungbunhi)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: besanî
- Lao: ພຽງພໍ (phīang phǭ), ພໍ (phǭ)
- Latin: satis (la)
- Latvian: gana, diezgan
- Lithuanian: pakankamai
- Macedonian: до́ста (dósta), до́волно (dóvolno)
- Maltese: biżżejjed
- Maori: nanea, rawaka
- Mongolian: хангалттай (mn) (xangalttaj)
- Nepali: पर्याप्त (ne) (paryāpta)
- Norman: assaïz
- Norwegian: nok (no), tilstrekkelig, fyllestgjørende
- Occitan: pro (oc), sufisent (oc)
- Old Church Slavonic: довольнъ (dovolĭnŭ)
- Persian: کافی (fa) (kâfi)
- Plautdietsch: nuach
- Polish: dość (pl), wystarczająco (pl)
- Portuguese: bastante (pt), suficiente (pt)
- Romagnol: abastânza
- Romanian: destul (ro)
- Russian: доста́точно (ru) (dostátočno) (+ genitive), дово́льно (ru) (dovólʹno)
- Serbo-Croatian: довољно, dovoljno (sh)
- Slovak: dosť
- Slovene: dovȍlj (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: dosć (+ genitive)
- Spanish: bastante (es), suficiente (es)
- Swahili: basi (sw)
- Swedish: tillräckligt (sv), nog (sv)
- Tajik: кофӣ (tg) (kofī)
- Thai: พอเพียง (th) (pɔɔ-piiang), พอ (th) (pɔɔ), เพียงพอ (th)
- Tibetan: (no equivalent determiner—in this sense, an adjective or verb phrase is used instead) Adjectives: འདང་ངེས་ཀྱི ('dang nges kyi), འགྲིག་ངེས་ཀྱི ('grig nges kyi); Adjectives (in the negative only—i.e. "not enough"): ཉུང་དྲགས (nyung drags) (the positive མང་དྲགས (mang drags) means "too much", rather than "enough"); Verbs: འདང ('dang), འགྲིག ('grig), ལྡེང (ldeng), ལངས (langs)
- Tok Pisin: inap
- Turkish: yeterli (tr)
- Ukrainian: до́сить (uk) (dósytʹ), доста́тньо (dostátnʹo), дово́лі (dovóli)
- Urdu: کافی (kāfī)
- Uzbek: yetarli (uz)
- Vietnamese: đủ (vi)
- West Frisian: genôch
- Yiddish: גענוג (genug)
- Zazaki: bes (diq), qim c
- Zhuang: cuk
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Adverb
enough
- Sufficiently.
I cannot run fast enough to catch up to them.
- You've worked enough; rest for a bit.
1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
- Fully; quite; used after adjectives to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.
He is ready enough to accept the offer.
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:I know you well enough; you are Signior Antonio.
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
- Used after certain adverbs to emphasise that a quality is notable, unexpected, etc.
- Talking of Mr Smith, funnily enough, I saw him just the other day.
- I left my camera on the train, but luckily enough someone handed it in to lost property.
Usage notes
- As an adverb, in modern English, enough almost always follows the verb, adjective or adverb that it qualifies. In older language and certain dialects, cases where it precedes the modified word, e.g. "He was enough satisfied" or "I was not enough recompensed", may be seen.
- The archaic form enow was remarked as early as Samuel Johnson to be used for plural nouns.
Translations
sufficiently
- Albanian: mjaft (sq)
- Arabic: تَمَامًا (tamāman)
- Armenian: բավականաչափ (hy) (bavakanačʿapʿ), բավարար (hy) (bavarar), բավական (hy) (bavakan)
- Belarusian: дастатко́ва (dastatkóva)
- Bengali: যথেষ্ট (bn) (jotheśṭo)
- Breton: a-walc'h (br)
- Bulgarian: доста́тъчно (bg) (dostátǎčno)
- Burmese: အလုံအလောက် (my) (a.lum-a.lauk)
- Catalan: suficientment (ca), prou (ca)
- Chamicuro: ma'sha
- Chichewa: basi
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 足夠/足够 (zh) (zúgòu), 夠/够 (zh) (gòu), 充足 (zh) (chōngzú)
- Czech: dost (cs)
- Danish: tilstrækkeligt, nok (da)
- Dutch: genoeg (nl)
- Esperanto: sufiĉe (eo)
- Finnish: tarpeeksi (fi), kyllin (fi), riittävän
- French: suffisamment (fr), assez (fr)
- Galician: bastante, abondo (gl)
- Georgian: საკმარისად (saḳmarisad), საკმაოდ (saḳmaod)
- German: genug (de)
- Alemannic German: gnueg
- Greek: αρκετά (el) (arketá), επαρκώς (el) (eparkós)
- Ancient: ἅλις (hális)
- Hebrew: מַסְפִּיק (he) (maspík)
- Hindi: काफ़ी (hi) (kāfī)
- Hungarian: (with adjectives and nouns) elég (hu), eléggé (hu), kellően (hu), (with verbs) eleget (hu)
- Icelandic: nóg (is)
- Ido: sate (io)
- Indonesian: cukup (id)
- Ingrian: kylläst
- Interlingua: satis, assatis
- Irish: go leor
- Italian: abbastanza (it), assai (it)
- Japanese: 十分に (ja) (じゅうぶんに, jūbun ni), 充分に (ja) (じゅうぶんに, jūbun ni), 足りて (ja) (tarite)
- Khmer: ល្មម (km) (lmɔɔm), បរិបូរ (km) (bɑɑre’boo)
- Korean: 충분히 (ko) (chungbunhi)
- Lao: ພໍ (phǭ), ພຽງພໍ (phīang phǭ)
- Latin: satis (la), affatim
- Latvian: gana
- Lombard: assee (lmo)
- Macedonian: до́статно (dóstatno), до́волно (dóvolno)
- Malay: cukup (ms)
- Manx: dy liooar
- Maori: rawaka
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Norman: assaïz (Guernsey)
- Old Prussian: sūit
- Persian: کافی (fa) (kâfi)
- Polish: dość (pl), dosyć (pl), wystarczająco (pl), na tyle
- Portuguese: bastante (pt), suficientemente
- Quechua: sinchi
- Romagnol: abastânza
- Romanian: destul (ro), suficient (ro), de ajuns
- Russian: доста́точно (ru) (dostátočno), дово́льно (ru) (dovólʹno)
- Sanskrit: अलम् (sa) (alam)
- Scottish Gaelic: gu leòr
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: довољно
- Roman: dovoljno (sh)
- Slovak: dosť
- Slovene: dovòlj (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: dosć
- Upper Sorbian: dosć
- Spanish: suficientemente (es)
- Swedish: tillräckligt (sv), nog (sv)
- Tajik: кофӣ (tg) (kofī)
- Thai: พอ (th) (pɔɔ)
- Tok Pisin: inap
- Turkish: yeterince (tr), yeteri kadar (tr), yeter derecede
- Ukrainian: доста́тньо (dostátnʹo), до́сить (uk) (dósytʹ)
- Urdu: کافی (kāfī)
- Vietnamese: đủ (vi)
- Welsh: gwala, digon (cy)
- Yiddish: גענוג (genug)
- Zazaki: qim ken
- Zhuang: gaeuq
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Pronoun
enough
- A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.
- I have enough (of it) to keep me going.
- Enough of you are here to begin the class.
- Get some more plates. There aren’t enough yet.
- Not enough is known yet about the causes of the pandemic.
- There wasn't enough of an economic surplus.
Translations
a sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc
- Armenian: բավական (hy) (bavakan), բավարար քանակություն (bavarar kʿanakutʿyun)
- Bengali: যথেষ্ট (bn) (jotheśṭo)
- Bulgarian: достатъчно (bg) (dostatǎčno)
- Catalan: prou (ca)
- Czech: dost (cs)
- Dutch: genoeg (nl)
- Finnish: tarpeeksi (fi), riittävästi (fi)
- French: suffisamment (fr), assez (fr)
- Galician: abondo (gl)
- Georgian: საკმარისი (saḳmarisi), საკმაო (saḳmao)
- German: genug (de)
- Greek: αρκετά (el) (arketá)
- Hebrew: מספיק (he) (maspík), די (he) (dái)
- Hungarian: elég (hu), (of people) elegen (hu)
- Icelandic: nóg (is)
- Ido: sato (io)
- Irish: dóthain f
- Italian: abbastanza (it)
- Japanese: 十分 (ja) (じゅうぶん, jūbun), 充分 (ja) (じゅうぶん, jūbun)
- Macedonian: до́волно (dóvolno)
- Norman: assaïz (Guernsey)
- Norwegian: nok (no)
- Portuguese: o suficiente
- Russian: доста́точно (ru) (dostátočno)
- Serbo-Croatian: довољно, dovoljno (sh)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: dosć
- Spanish: bastante (es)
- Swedish: tillräckligt (sv), nog (sv)
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Interjection
enough!
- Stop! Don't do that any more!
- I'm sick of you complaining! Enough!
Translations
stop!
- Apinayé: 'ãmri
- Arabic: مَه (mah), كَفَى (kafā) (for good thing), بَسّ (bass) (for bad thing), خَلَاص (ḵalāṣ)
- Egyptian Arabic: كفاية (kefāya), بس (bass), خلاص (ḵalāṣ)
- Armenian: հերիք է (herikʿ ē), բավական է (bavakan ē)
- Basque: aski
- Bengali: ব্যাস (bn) (bês)
- Bulgarian: стига (bg) (stiga), достатъчно (bg) (dostatǎčno)
- Catalan: prou! (ca)
- Czech: dost (cs), a dost, stačilo (cs)
- Dalmatian: buosta
- Dutch: genoeg! (nl)
- Esperanto: sufiĉe (eo)
- Estonian: aitab!
- Finnish: jo riittää!
- French: ça suffit !, assez !
- Galician: abonda! (gl), xa abonda!, basta! (gl)
- Georgian: კმარა (ka) (ḳmara)
- German: halt (de)!, das genügt
- Greek: φτάνει! (el) (ftánei!), αρκετά! (el) (arketá!)
- Ancient: βλόψ (blóps)
- Hebrew: מספיק (he) (maspík), די (he) (dái)
- Hindi: बस (hi) (bas)
- Hungarian: elég (legyen/volt)!
- Icelandic: nú er komið nóg
- Irish: is leor sin
- Italian: basta (it)
- Japanese: 十分だ (ja) (じゅうぶんだ, jūbun da), 充分だ (ja) (じゅうぶんだ, jūbun da), (imperative, informal) 止めろ (ja) (やめろ, yamero)
- Khmer: ហើយ (km) (haəy)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: بەس (bes), تەواو (tewaw)
- Latin: de hoc satis!
- Latvian: gana!
- Macedonian: доста! (dosta!)
- Maori: kāti
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Navajo: kʼadí
- Norwegian: det holder!
- Persian: بس است! (bas ast!), بسه! (fa) (basse!)
- Polish: dosyć (pl), starczy (pl), wystarczy, dość (pl), basta (pl)
- Portuguese: basta (pt)!, chega! (pt)
- Romanian: ajunge (ro)!
- Russian: хва́тит! (ru) (xvátit!), доста́точно! (ru) (dostátočno!)
- Serbo-Croatian: доста, dosta (sh)
- Slovene: dovòlj (sl), básta
- Spanish: ¡basta! (es)
- Swahili: basi! (sw)
- Tagalog: tama na!
- Thai: พอได้แล้ว (th) (pɔɔ-dâai-lɛ́ɛo), หยุดได้แล้ว (th) (yùt-dâai-lɛ́ɛo)
- Tibetan: འགྲིགས་སོང་། ('grigs song), ད་འགྲིགས་སོང་། (da 'grigs song)
- Turkish: yeter! (tr)
- Vietnamese: đủ rồi !
- Yiddish: גענוג! (genug!)
- Zazaki: beso m
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Translations to be checked
Noun
enough (plural enoughs)
- (rare, chiefly in the plural) An instance of being sufficient, or of doing something sufficiently.
1909, Edwin Balmer, Waylaid by Wireless: A Suspicion, a Warning, a Sporting Proposition, and a Transatlantic Pursuit, page 29:And she was neither beautiful nor handsome, but just at the point halfway between which a girl of twenty-three reaches who inherits good features and healthful figure, and who has learned to dance well, ride well, study enough, golf enough, and has attained the thousand other "well and enoughs" which include talking well and listening enough, and allow a woman to be liked and loved with so little consciousness that she never suspects she is particularly liked at all.
Derived terms