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)

• Audio (AU)

  (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 adequate; to be good enough.

   For this plum cake, two eggs should suffice.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, 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 (zh), 足够 (zh) (zúgòu), 夠 (zh), 够 (zh) (gòu), 使滿足, 使满足 (shǐ mǎnzú)

• Czech: stačit (cs) impf or pf
• Danish: holde (da)
• 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

• 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, 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 (is)

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

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