genug
German
Alternative forms
- genung, gnung (archaic, dialectal)
Etymology
From Old High German ginuog, from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz. Cognate with Dutch genoeg, Low German noog, English enough, West Frisian genôch, Danish nok, Swedish nog. The Proto-Germanic word is a compound of the prefix *ga- + unreflexed *nōgaz. The latter is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nóḱe (“to reach, achieve, carry out”), a form of *h₂neḱ-.[1]
Further Indo-European cognates: Latin nancisci (“to get, to abtain”), Slovene nesti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to satisfy”)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡəˈnuːk/ (standard)
- IPA(key): /ɡəˈnʊx/ (in northern and central Germany; chiefly colloquial)
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -uːk
Determiner
genug
- (invariable) enough, sufficient, an adequate number or amount of
- Wir haben nicht genug Geld.
- We don't have enough money.
- Wir haben nicht genug Geld.
Usage notes
- Genug can never follow an article or another determiner. Moreover, it is rather often used after the referent for emphasis: Die haben Geld genug! (“They have money enough!”)
Adverb
genug
- enough, sufficiently, in an adequate way
- Die Kinder haben genug gespielt.
- The children have played enough.
- Die Kinder haben genug gespielt.
Usage notes
- Genug can be followed and preceded by a genitive as in genug der Worte, rarer der Worte genug.
Synonyms
- (enough, sufficient): genügend, ausreichend, adequat
Antonyms
- (enough, sufficient): ungenügend, unzureichend, inadequat
Derived terms
Further reading
- “genug” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
References
- Ringe, Don (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, Oxford University Press
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