-ful
Used to form nouns from nouns meaning “as much as can be held by what is denoted by the noun”
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form nouns from nouns meaning “as much as can be held by what is denoted by the noun”
- bowl + -ful → bowlful
- hand + -ful → handful
Origin
Inherited from Middle English -ful, from Old English -ful, -full, from Proto-Germanic *fullō, *fullijô (“filling”).
Forms
Related
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun.
- sin + -ful → sinful
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Middle English -ful English -ful Inherited from Middle English -ful, -full, from Old English -ful, -full (“full of; -ful”), from Proto-Germanic *-fullaz (“-ful”), from Proto-Germanic *fullaz (“full”); see full. Cognate with Scots -fu, Saterland Frisian -ful (“-ful”), West Frisian -fol (“-ful”), Dutch -vol (“-ful”), German -voll (“-ful”), Swedish -full (“-ful”), Danish -fuld (“-ful”), Icelandic -fullur, -fyllur (“-ful”).