suffisen

Middle English

Alternative forms

• suffise, sufficen, suffice, suffysen, suffycen, souffise, souffice, suffichen, suffischen, suffycyn, suffyzyn, soffyce, sofysyn, soffysse, suffysse

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /suˈfiːsən/, /suˈfiːzən/

Verb

suffisen (third-person singular simple present suffiseth, present participle suffisende, suffisynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle suffised)

1. (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))
2. (intransitive with for, theology) to atone for, to redeem the sins of (someone)
3. (transitive) to be adequate for (someone’s) wants or needs, to satisfy
4. (transitive) to feed (a person or animal)
5. (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,

6. (transitive or intransitive with to) to be capable of, to be able to (do something)
7. (transitive) to need, to require
8. (intransitive or reflexive) to be content (+ to or unto: with)

Conjugation

Related terms

Descendants

• English: suffice

References

• “suffīsen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2023-11-08.