suffice

suffice

English

WOTD – 16 October 2008

Etymology

From Middle English suffisen, from Middle French souffire, from Latin sufficiō (“supply, be adequate”), from sub (“under”) + faciō (“do, make”). Cognate with French suffire.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /səˈfaɪs/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /səˈfaɪz/[1]

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -aɪs

Verb

suffice (third-person singular simple present suffices, present participle sufficing, simple past and past participle sufficed)

1. (intransitive) To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be adequate; to be good enough.

   For this plum cake, two eggs should suffice.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     To recount almighty works, / What words or tongue of seraph can suffice?

2. (transitive) To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.

   A joint of lamb sufficed even his enormous appetite.

   • 1838, The Church of England quarterly review (page 203)

     Lord Brougham's salary would have sufficed more than ninety Prussian judges.

3. To furnish; to supply adequately.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

• Commonly used in the phrase suffice it to say.
• Mostly used in modal verb constructions, such as: Half a loaf per day will suffice. This is much more common than the direct form Half a loaf per day suffices.

Synonyms

• (be enough) work, do

Related terms

• satisfice
• sufficient

Translations

be enough, sufficient, adequate

Arabic: كَفَى‎ (kafā) Armenian: բավականացնել (hy) (bavakanacʿnel), հերիքել (hy) (herikʿel), բավարարել (hy) (bavararel) Assamese: কুলা (kula) Azerbaijani: çatmaq (az), yetmək, kifayyət etmək, kifayyət olmaq, bəs etmək, bəs olmaq Belarusian: хапа́ць impf (xapácʹ), хапі́ць pf (xapícʹ) Bulgarian: стигам (bg) (stigam), достатъчен съм (dostatǎčen sǎm) Burmese: တော် (my) (tau), လောက် (my) (lauk) Catalan: bastar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 足夠／足够 (zh) (zúgòu), 夠／够 (zh) (gòu), 使滿足／使满足 (shǐ mǎnzú) Czech: stačit (cs) impf or pf Danish: holde (da), være tilstrækkelig Dutch: genoeg zijn, volstaan (nl), voldoen (nl), toereiken (nl) Esperanto: sufiĉi Finnish: riittää (fi), kelvata (fi), menetellä (fi), piisata (fi) French: suffire (fr) Galician: abastar, abondar (gl), chegar (gl) Georgian: ყოფნა (ka) (q̇opna), კმარა (ka) (ḳmara) German: ausreichen (de), genügen (de), genug sein, reichen (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (ganauhan) Greek: φτάνω (el) (ftáno), αρκώ (el) (arkó) Ancient: ἀρκέω (arkéō) Hindi: काफ़ी होना (kāfī honā), पूरा पड़ना (pūrā paṛnā) Hungarian: elég (hu), elegendő (hu), elmegy (hu), megfelel (hu), jó (hu), megteszi Interlingua: bastar, sufficer Italian: bastare (it), essere sufficiente Japanese: 足りる (ja) (たりる, tariru), 足る (ja) (たる, taru) Korean: 충분하다 (ko) (chungbunhada) Ladino: Latin: abastar Neapolitan: abbastà Norwegian: rekke (no) Bokmål: holde (no) Nynorsk: halde Oromo: ga'uu Persian: کفایت کردن‎ (fa) (kefâyat kardan) Polish: wystarczać (pl) impf, wystarczyć (pl) pf Portuguese: ser suficiente, atender (pt), satisfazer (pt), bastar (pt), chegar (pt), servir (pt) Quechua: aypay, puchuy Romanian: ajunge (ro) Russian: хвата́ть (ru) impf (xvatátʹ), хвати́ть (ru) pf (xvatítʹ), быть доста́точным impf (bytʹ dostátočnym) Scottish Gaelic: foghain Serbo-Croatian: dostati, dostajati (sh), достати (Cyrl) Slovak: stačiť impf or pf Spanish: bastar (es) Swahili: -tosha Swedish: räcka (sv), förslå (sv), vara tillräcklig Ukrainian: вистача́ти impf (vystačáty), ви́стачити pf (výstačyty), става́ти impf (staváty), ста́ти (uk) pf (státy), вистава́ти impf (vystaváty), ви́стати pf (výstaty) Vietnamese: đủ (vi), là đủ

satisfy

Armenian: բավարարել (hy) (bavararel) Bulgarian: задоволявам (bg) (zadovoljavam) Dutch: voldoen (nl) (aan (nl)) Finnish: tyydyttää (fi), riittää (fi) Galician: abastar German: zufriedenstellen (de), befriedigen (de) Higaonon: tagbaw Hungarian: kielégít (hu) Italian: soddisfare (it) Polish: zadowolić (pl), wystarczać (pl), wystarczyć (pl) Portuguese: satisfazer (pt), servir (pt) Russian: удовлетворя́ть (ru) impf (udovletvorjátʹ), удовлетвори́ть (ru) pf (udovletvorítʹ)

furnish

Dutch: voorzien (nl) (van (nl)) Finnish: riittää (fi) Galician: abastar German: ausstatten (de) Hungarian: ellát (hu) Italian: fornire (it) Portuguese: suplementar (pt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) suffire 2, (please verify) 3 (fr) Icelandic: (please verify) duga (is) Spanish: (please verify) alcanzar (es)

References

1. Meredith, L. P. (1872), “Suffice”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech, Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 43.

Further reading

• suffice in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• suffice in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• suffice at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Cuffies, cuffies

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsuf.fi.ke/, [ˈs̠ʊfːɪkɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsuf.fi.t͡ʃe/, [ˈsufːit͡ʃe]

Verb

suffice

1. second-person singular present active imperative of sufficiō