English
sufferance
Sufferance comes from Late Latin sufferentia ‘a bearing or enduring, toleration, sufferance,…’, from Latin sufferō ‘to bear or carry under’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti1‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō1‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō1‘carry, bear’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsufferō2‘to bear or carry under’next step skipped: Late Latin sufferens
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsufferentia3‘a bearing or enduring, toleration, sufferance, resignation, patience’present participle of sufferō
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400suffraunce3
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sufferaunce3
- Englishearliest quotation 1590sufferance3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin suffero
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin sufferentia
- 3 Wiktionary, English sufferance
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IV: “[M]oſt wretched man, / That to affections does the…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, Latin suffero‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, Latin suffero‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferōWiktionary, Latin suffero‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferōWiktionary, Latin suffero‘carry, bear’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsufferōWiktionary, Latin sufferentia‘to bear or carry under’next step skipped: Late Latin sufferens
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsufferentiaWiktionary, English sufferance‘a bearing or enduring, toleration, sufferance, resignation, patience’present participle of sufferō
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400suffraunceWiktionary, English sufferance
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sufferaunceWiktionary, English sufferance
- Englishearliest quotation 1590sufferanceWiktionary, English sufferance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IV: “[M]oſt wretched man, / That to affections does the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, broad, bread, fortune, burden, prefer, bearing, barrel, barn, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, berth, ferret, furtive, bahar, bier, birr, barrette, insufferable, bairn, burnish, proffer, 113 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
bear, borne, phosphate, phosphorus, euphoria, dysphoria, semaphore, phosphine, indifferently, 91 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
differently, differentiation, indifferent, infertility, infertile, deference, differentially, deferential, differentiable, differentiator, 68 more
through Latin ferō ‘carry, bear’
different, offer, relative, difference, relation, extraordinary, relate, reference, translation, transfer, frustration, referendum, translate, referee, differ, fertility, strangely, fertile, extravagant, elated, frustrate, confer, defer, fertilization, infer, ablation, infra, elation, collation, extraneous, dilate, collate, strangeness, fertilize, ablative, oblate, estrange, efferent, 78 more
Today it means
noun Endurance, especially patiently, of pain or adversity.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “sufferance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin suffero, Latin sufferentia. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- / sufferance