-en
-en
1a suffix formerly used to form transitive and intransitive verbs from adjectives ( fasten; harden; sweeten ), or from nouns ( heighten; lengthen; strengthen ).
Origin:
Middle English, Old English -n- (as in Middle English fast-n-en, Old English fǣst-n-ian to make fast, fasten); cognate with -n- of like verbs in other Gmc languages (Old Norse fastna)
Middle English, Old English -n- (as in Middle English fast-n-en, Old English fǣst-n-ian to make fast, fasten); cognate with -n- of like verbs in other Gmc languages (Old Norse fastna)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
-en
2 Origin:
Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old High German -īn, Gothic -eins, Latin -īnus; see -ine1
Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old High German -īn, Gothic -eins, Latin -īnus; see -ine1
00:10
-en
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
-en
3a suffix used to mark the past participle in many strong and some weak verbs: taken; proven.
Origin:
Middle English, Old English; cognate with German -en, Old Norse -inn
Middle English, Old English; cognate with German -en, Old Norse -inn
-en
4 Origin:
Middle English; Old English -an, case ending of n-stem nouns, as in naman oblique singular, and nominative and accusative plural of nama name; akin to n-stem forms in other IE languages, as in Latin nōmen, nōmin- name
Middle English; Old English -an, case ending of n-stem nouns, as in naman oblique singular, and nominative and accusative plural of nama name; akin to n-stem forms in other IE languages, as in Latin nōmen, nōmin- name
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To -en
Collins
World English Dictionary
| -en1 | |
| —suffix forming verbs | |
| cause to be; become; cause to have: blacken; heighten | |
| [Old English -n-, as in fæst-n-ian to fasten, of common Germanic origin; compare Icelandic fastna] | |
| -en2 | |
| —suffix forming adjectives | |
| of; made of; resembling: ashen; earthen; wooden | |
| [Old English -en; related to Gothic -eins, Latin -īnus | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
-en
suffix forming verbs (e.g. darken, weaken), from adjectives or from nouns, from O.E. -nian, from P.Gmc. *-inojan. Mostly active in M.E.
-en
suffix added to nouns to produce adjectives meaning made of, of the nature of (e.g. golden, oaken), corresponding to L. -ine. Common in O.E. and M.E., surviving words with it now are largely discarded in everyday use and the simple form of the noun serves as an adjective as well.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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