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Origin and history of suffice

suffice(v.)

early 14c., suffisen (intransitive) "be enough for a purpose in view;" late 14c. (transitive) "be adequate for the desires or needs of," from present-participle stem of Old French sofire "be sufficient, satisfy" (Modern French suffire), from Latin sufficere "put under, lay a foundation under; supply as a substitute; be enough, be adequate," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

Related: Sufficed; sufficing; sufficable. The phrase suffice it to say (1690s) is a rare surviving English subjunctive.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to suffice

*dhe-

*dhē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to set, put."

It might form all or part of: abdomen; abscond; add; affair; affect (v.1) "make a mental impression on;" affect (v.2) "make a pretense of;" affection; amplify; anathema; antithesis; apothecary; artifact; artifice; beatific; benefice; beneficence; beneficial; benefit; betray; bibliothec; bodega; boutique; certify; chafe; chauffeur; comfit; condiment; confection; confetti; counterfeit; deed; deem; deface; defeasance; defeat; defect; deficient; difficulty; dignify; discomfit; do (v.); doom; -dom; duma; edifice; edify; efface; effect; efficacious; efficient; epithet; facade; face; facet; facial; -facient; facile; facilitate; facsimile; fact; faction (n.1) "political party;" -faction; factitious; factitive; factor; factory; factotum; faculty; fashion; feasible; feat; feature; feckless; fetish; -fic; fordo; forfeit; -fy; gratify; hacienda; hypothecate; hypothesis; incondite; indeed; infect; justify; malefactor; malfeasance; manufacture; metathesis; misfeasance; modify; mollify; multifarious; notify; nullify; office; officinal; omnifarious; orifice; parenthesis; perfect; petrify; pluperfect; pontifex; prefect; prima facie; proficient; profit; prosthesis; prothesis; purdah; putrefy; qualify; rarefy; recondite; rectify; refectory; sacrifice; salmagundi; samadhi; satisfy; sconce; suffice; sufficient; surface; surfeit; synthesis; tay; ticking (n.); theco-; thematic; theme; thesis; tradition; traitor; verify.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Latin facere "to make, do; perform; bring about;" Lithuanian dėti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old English don "to do."

sub-

word-forming element of Latin origin meaning "under, beneath; behind; from under; resulting from further division," from Latin preposition sub "under, below, beneath, at the foot of," also "close to, up to, towards;" of time, "within, during;" figuratively "subject to, in the power of;" also "a little, somewhat" (as in sub-horridus "somewhat rough"), from PIE *(s)up- (perhaps representing *ex-upo-), a variant form of the root *upo "under," also "up from under," which also yielded Greek hypo- and English up.

The Latin word also was used in Latin as a prefix and in various combinations. In Latin it was reduced to su- before -s- and assimilated to following -c-, -f-, -g-, -p-, and often -r- and -m-.

In Old French the prefix appears in the full Latin form only "in learned adoptions of old Latin compounds" [OED], and in popular use it was represented by sous-, sou-; as in French souvenir from Latin subvenire, souscrire (Old French souzescrire) from subscribere, etc.

The original meaning is now obscure in many words from Latin (suggest, suspect, subject, etc.). The prefix is active in Modern English; the indication generally being:

1. "under, beneath, at the bottom of;" in adverbs "down, low, lower;"

2. "inferior part, agent, division, or degree; inferior, having subordinate position" (subcontractor) also forming official titles (subaltern);

It also can indicate "division into parts or sections;" "next below, near, close to" (subantarctic); "smaller" (sub-giant); and it may be used generally as "somewhat, partial, incomplete" (subliterate).

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    do
    "perform, execute, achieve, carry out, bring to pass by procedure of any kind," etc., Middle English do, first person singular of Old English don "make, act, perform, cause; to put, to place," from West Germanic *doanan (source also of Old Saxon duan, Old Frisian dwa, Dutch doen,
    answer
    Middle English answere, from Old English andswaru "a response, a reply to a question," from and- "against" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + -swaru "affirmation," from swerian "to swear" (see swear). The proposed etymology s
    serve
    late 12c., serven, "to render habitual obedience to, owe allegiance to," also "minister, give aid, give help," from Old French servir "to do duty toward, show devotion to; set table, serve at table; offer, provide with," from Latin servire "be a servant, be in service, be enslave
    lamia
    first a flatereþ wiþ hym with a wommannes face and makeþ hym ligge by here while he may dure, & whanne he may noferþere suffice...
    aphorism
    So there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good quantity of observation : and therefore no man can suffice...
    verse
    late Old English (replacing Old English fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin), "line or section of a psalm or canticle," later "line of poetry" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French and Old French vers "line of verse; rhyme, song," from Latin versus "a line, row, l
    sever
    late 14c., severen, transitive, "cause a separation or division, put or keep apart," from Anglo-French severer, Old French sevrer "to separate" (12c., later in French restricted to "to wean," i.e. "to separate from the mother"), from Vulgar Latin *seperare, from Latin separare "t
    satisfy
    early 15c., satisfien, "do penance," also "appease, assuage;" also "fulfill (a desire), comply with (a command), satiate (a hunger or thirst)," from Old French satisfiier "pay, repay, make reparation" (14c., Modern French satisfaire), from Latin satisfacere "discharge fully, comp
    fulfill
    Old English fullfyllan "fill up" (a room, a ship, etc.), "make full; take the place of (something)," from full (adj.), here perhaps with a sense of "completion" + fyllan (see fill (v.), which is ultimately from the same root). It was used from mid-13c. in reference to prophecy (p
    function
    1530s, "one's proper work or purpose; power of acting in a specific proper way," from French fonction (16c.) and directly from Latin functionem (nominative functio) "a performance, an execution," noun of action from funct-, past-participle stem of fungi "perform, execute, dischar

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