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/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     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 phrases suffice to say or suffice it to say.
• Mostly used in modal verb constructions, such as: Half a loaf per day will/should 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) (bavakanacʻnel), հերիքել (hy) (herikʻel), 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), suficer, suficientar, suficientizar, pasar piola (es) (Peru), alcanzar (es), abastar (es)
• Swahili: -tosha (sw)
• 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)

Further reading

• “suffice”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “suffice”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “suffice”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Cuffies, cuffies

Latin

Pronunciation

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

Verb

suffice

1. second-person singular present active imperative of sufficiō