Etymologically
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assez

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.se/[1]
  • IPA: /a.se.z‿/[1]

Forms

assez[1] Old French asez, also adsates, asats; the spelling assez won in the 14th and 15th centuries.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French asez, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ad satis, a strengthened form of Latin satis (“enough”).[2][3][4][5][1] Latin “satis” was used for “much” from early Latin, and very often in Late Latin, which explains the Old French sense “much”.[4][2] The simple Latin word survived only in Old French “sez” “what is enough”.[4]

Cognate with Italian assai (“very”), Occitan assatz, Portuguese assaz and Spanish asaz.[1][4][6] The same Latin family gave satiété, satisfaire and rassasier.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century as asez.[3][2] In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it still means “much, many”: Baptizét sunt asez plus de cent mille “well over a hundred thousand are baptised”.[8]

Semantic evolution

Its meaning moved from “much” (11th to 16th century) to “enough, as much as needed” (12th century).[2][8] Avoir assez dates from about 1200, c'est assez from 1538.[2] In the 17th century it took the weakened sense “rather, fairly” and the classical sense “too much”, now archaic.[2]

The exclamation assez ! “that will do!” is in Corneille (1661), and en avoir assez, expressing weariness, dates from the 19th and 20th centuries.[2] In Quebec assez de can mean “a lot of, too much”; in Belgium assez may follow the adjective (gentil assez); in Switzerland it means “surely, readily”, a calque of the patois prao.[2]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Asez.[3]
  • c. 1100 – Asez “many” in the Chanson de Roland.[8]
  • 12th century – The sense “enough”.[2]
  • c. 1200 – Avoir assez.[2]
  • 1538 – C'est assez.[2]
  • 1661 – Assez ! in Corneille.[2]
  • 1834 – Swiss assez “surely” in Töpffer.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. enough, sufficiently: assez grand, avoir assez mangé.[7][9]
  2. Assez de: enough: assez d'argent.[10][9]
  3. Rather, fairly: j'aime assez ce vin.[9]
  4. En avoir assez: to be fed up, assez !, that's enough![2][7]
  5. (Quebec) Very, so: il est assez fin.[2]
  • satiété
  • rassasier
  • Italian assai

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 183b
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)