enough

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English ynough, from Old English ġenōg (enough), from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz (enough) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ganuganą 'to suffice' (compare Old English ġeneah), or from *ga- + an unattested *nōgaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nó(n)ḱe (he has reached, attained), perfective of *h₂neḱ- (to reach) (compare Old Irish tánaic (he arrived), Latin nancisci (to get), Lithuanian nèšti (to carry), Albanian kënaq (to please, satisfy), Ancient Greek ἐνεγκεῖν (enenkeîn, to carry).).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪˈnʌf/
  • (file)
  • (file)
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  • Rhymes: -ʌf
  • Hyphenation: e‧nough

Determiner

enough

  1. Sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate.
    I've already had enough coffee today.
    • Bible, Gospel of Luke xv. 17
      How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare!

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

enough

  1. Sufficiently.
    I cannot run fast enough to catch up to them.
    Are you man enough to fight me?
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 16, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      The preposterous altruism too! [] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess:
      ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’
  2. Fully; quite; used to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.
    He is ready enough to accept the offer.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
      I know you well enough; you are Signior Antonio.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0029:
      “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

Usage notes

  • As an adverb, enough always follows the verb it qualifies.

Derived terms

Translations

Pronoun

enough

  1. A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.
    I have enough to keep me going.

Translations

Interjection

enough!

  1. stop! Don't do that anymore, etc.
    Enough!

Translations

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