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Etymology and origin of the English word -en

English has several suffixes spelled -en.[1][2] Those in adjectives of material and in verbs are the most used ones, and the past participle and plural endings are inflections.[3][2][1] Two others survive only in old words: a diminutive in chicken, kitten and maiden, and a feminine in vixen.[1][4][5]

Pronunciation

  • /ən/, [n̩][6]

-en1 made of

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
Inherited from
Old English -en via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *-īnaz

Etymology

The adjective suffix is inherited from Middle English -en,[3][7] inherited from Old English -en,[1][3][2][4] from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz,[6][4][1] from the same Indo-European base as Ancient Greek -ῑνος (-īnos) and Latin -īnus, the source of -ine.[1][4][8][3] It is cognate with Old Saxon -in, Old High German -īn, German -en, Old Norse -inn and Gothic -𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (-eins).[1][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Germanic these adjectives chiefly named the material of a thing.[1] The Old English ones usually had umlaut, as in gylden from gold and stǣnen from stān.[1][4]

Semantic evolution

Scarcely any of the Old English adjectives survive, but Middle English extended the suffix to many new ones, some replacing older words without umlaut, as golden replaced gilden.[1] Etymonline lists rosen, hunden (of dogs), tinnen and breaden.[8] From the 16th century literary English has come to prefer the noun itself, as in a gold watch, and many of these adjectives are obsolete.[1][2][3] Others survive mostly in a figurative sense, as golden and brazen do.[1][8] Few remain in literal use, chiefly wooden, woollen, earthen and wheaten.[1][2] South-western dialects still add it to any noun of material, as in glazen and steelen.[1]

Timeline

  • Old English – gylden, stǣnen.[1]
  • c. 1300 – golden.[1]
  • 1527 – wooden.[1]
  • 16th century on – gives way to the attributive noun.[1]

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forming adjectives from nouns that mean made of or resembling something: ashen, oaken.[9][3][2]

Word family

-en2 forming verbs

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
Inherited from
Old English -nian via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *-inōną

Etymology

The verbal suffix is inherited from Middle English -nen,[3] inherited from Old English -nian,[8][3][7] as in fæstnian, the source of fasten,[1][3][9] from Proto-Germanic *-inōną,[6][8] which Etymonline takes back to Proto-Indo-European *-no-.[8] It is cognate with Old Saxon -nōn and Old High German -inōn.[3][1] The OED also compares a Gothic class of verbs of becoming, made from adjectives.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English had only a few such verbs, among them fasten, the Northumbrian source of brighten, and, on a noun, hlystnian, the source of listen.[1] Harden came from Old Norse harðna.[1]

Semantic evolution

Most verbs from adjectives seem to have been formed in late Middle or early modern English, on the model of those few.[1][8] In most of them the sense of becoming appears to derive from the sense of making.[1] A few verbs from nouns appeared in the 14th century, among them happen and threaten.[1] The majority, such as heighten, lengthen, strengthen and hearten, appear first in modern English.[1] In waken it is a different ending, from the present stem of a strong verb.[1]

Timeline

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forming verbs from adjectives that mean make or become: sharpen, blacken, steepen.[9][3][10]
  2. Forming verbs from nouns that mean cause to have or come to have: heighten, lengthen.[9][3][1]

Word family

-en3 past participle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
Inherited from
Old English -en via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *-anaz

Etymology

The participle ending is inherited from Middle English -en,[2] inherited from Old English -en,[1][2] from Proto-Germanic *-anaz, also *-inaz.[1] Some Germanic languages generalized one form and some the other, and Old English shows both in cymen and cumen, past participles of come.[1] It is cognate with Old Frisian -en, Old Saxon -an, Dutch -en, Old High German -an and Old Norse -inn.[1]

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forming the past participle of many strong verbs: broken, fallen, written; also shortened to -n, as in blown and torn.[2][1]

Word family

-en4 plural

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
Inherited from
Old English -an via Middle English

Etymology

The plural ending is inherited from Middle English -en,[1][2] inherited from Old English -an,[1][2] the ending of weak nouns in the nominative, accusative and dative plural, as in oxan, the plural of oxa, and tungan.[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It belonged in origin to the noun stem.[1][5] As the singular levelled to -e in Middle English, -en came to be felt as the sign of the plural, and southern Middle English extended it to many other words of Old English and French origin.[1]

Semantic evolution

It was also added to old plurals, giving brethren, children from childer, and kine.[1][2][5] Apart from these, the only survivor in standard English is oxen, though hosen lasted until the 17th century.[1] Plurals in -en remain frequent in southern and south midland dialects.[1]

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forming the plural of a few nouns: oxen, children.[1][2]

Word family

  • brethren
  • children
  • oxen

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • eldest · also from Old English
  • scrub · also from Old English
  • shale · also from Old English
  • midway · also from Old English
  • ale · also from Old English
  • pike · also from Old English
  • strand · also from Old English
  • staple · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“-en.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/-en. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·