suffice

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English suffisen, also sufficen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French suffire (“to be sufficient, satisfy”), through its present stem suffis-.^{[5][6][7][8][4]} The French verb comes from Latin sufficiō (“to put under, supply as a substitute, be enough”),^[4][3][8] formed from sub- (“under, up to”) and faciō (“to make, do”).^[5][4][7][9] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace faciō to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[4][9] Dictionary.com takes the form sufficen as taken directly from Latin, replacing suffisen.^[10] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the early 12th century, already meant to be sufficient, to satisfy and to be able.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be adequate or equal to something: about 1325, in the Song of Yesterday (obsolete by 1540).^[5] The intransitive sense "to be enough for a purpose" follows about 1340, in Richard Rolle.^[5] Barnhart dates the verb before 1325,^[7] Etymonline to the early 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The transitive use, "to be enough for someone's needs", followed in the late 14th century.^[4] The impersonal it suffiseth, "it is enough", appears in the Wycliffite Bible ("Schewe to us the fadir, and it suffisith to us"),^[12][5] and Chaucer used the verb 83 times.^[13] The subjunctive suffice it is recorded from Gower (1390),^[5] and the phrase suffice it to say from the 1690s;^[4] Weekley calls it one of the few surviving English subjunctives.^[12][4] Johnson (1755) gave the transitive senses "to afford, supply" and "to satisfy", quoting Dryden and Milton, beside the intransitive "to be enough".^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – to be adequate or equal to (obsolete by 1540).^[5]
• c. 1340 – to be enough or adequate for a purpose.^[5]
• c. 1384 – impersonal, it suffices, it is enough.^[5]
• 1390 – suffice it, with an infinitive or a clause.^[5]
• 1393 – to provide enough for something.^[5]
• 1690s – suffice it to say.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be enough or adequate; to meet a need: A short email will suffice.^{[15][3][5][16]}
2. To be enough for someone; to satisfy the needs of: A bowl of soup sufficed him.^[16][17]
3. To be equal to a task; to be capable.^[16]
4. suffice it to say: I will say only that: Suffice it to say, the trip did not go as planned.^[15][17][18]

Word family

• sufficer

Related words

• sufficient
• sufficiency
• self-sufficient
• efficient
• deficient
• fact

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
17. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press