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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• 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 equal to the end proposed; to be adequate; to be good enough.

   Two capsules of fish oil a day suffices.

   • Milton

     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.

Synonyms

• (be enough) work

Related terms

• satisfice
• sufficient

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.

Translations

be enough, sufficient, adequate

• Arabic: كَفَى‏‎ (kafā)
• Armenian: բավականացնել (hy) (bavakanacʿnel), հերիքել (hy) (herikʿel), բավարարել (hy) (bavararel)
• Burmese: တော် (my) (tau), လောက် (my) (lauk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 足夠 (zh), 足够 (zh) (zúgòu), 夠 (zh), 够 (zh) (gòu), 使滿足, 使满足 (shǐ mǎnzú)

• Czech: stačit (cs)
• Danish: holde (da)
• Dutch: genoeg (nl) zijn (nl), volstaan (nl), voldoen (nl), toereiken (nl)
• Esperanto: sufiĉi
• Finnish: riittää (fi), kelvata (fi), menetellä (fi), piisata (fi)
• French: suffire (fr)
• Georgian: ყოფნა (ka) (q̇opna), კმარა (ka) (ḳmara)
• German: ausreichen (de), genügen (de)
• Greek: φτάνω (el) (ftáno), αρκώ (el) (arkó)
• Japanese: 足りる (ja) (たりる, tariru), 足る (ja) (たる, taru)

• Ladino:

  Latin: abastar

• Norwegian: rekke (no)

  Bokmål: holde (no)

  Nynorsk: halde

• Persian: کفایت کردن‏‎ (fa) (kefâyat kardan)
• Polish: wystarczać (pl), wystarczyć (pl)
• Portuguese: ser (pt) suficiente, atender (pt), satisfazer (pt), bastar (pt), chegar (pt)
• Quechua: aypay
• Romanian: ajunge (ro)
• Russian: хвата́ть (ru) impf (xvatátʹ), хвати́ть (ru) pf (xvatítʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: foghain
• Spanish: bastar (es)
• Swahili: -tosha
• Swedish: räcka (sv), förslå (sv)

satisfy

• Armenian: բավարարել (hy) (bavararel)
• Dutch: voldoen (nl) (aan (nl))
• Finnish: tyydyttää (fi), riittää (fi)
• German: zufriedenstellen (de), befriedigen (de)

• Polish: zadowolić (pl), wystarczać (pl), wystarczyć (pl)
• Portuguese: satisfazer (pt)
• Russian: удовлетворя́ть (ru) impf (udovletvorjátʹ), удовлетвори́ть (ru) pf (udovletvorítʹ)

furnish

• Dutch: voorzien (nl) (van (nl))
• Finnish: riittää (fi)

• German: ausstatten (de)
• Portuguese: suplementar (pt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} suffire 2, ^{(please verify)} 3 (fr)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} duga

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} alcanzar (es)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Cuffies, cuffies

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Latin

Verb

suffice

1. second-person singular present active imperative of sufficiō