English
suffice
Suffice comes from Latin sufficiō ‘supply, be adequate’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsufficiō1‘supply, be adequate’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600souffire1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500suffisen1‘to be adequate for some purpose or need, to suffice, to be enough (+ for, to, unto’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667suffice1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English suffice
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VII: “To recount almighty works, / What words or tongue…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsufficiōWiktionary, English suffice‘supply, be adequate’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600souffireWiktionary, English suffice
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500suffisenWiktionary, English suffice‘to be adequate for some purpose or need, to suffice, to be enough (+ for, to, unto’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667sufficeWiktionary, English suffice. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VII: “To recount almighty works, / What words or tongue…”
A compound of sub ‘under’ + faciō ‘do, make’
Proto-Indo-European *upó ‘up; from below’
Proto-Italic *supo ‘under’
Latin sub ‘under’
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-
Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti
Proto-Italic *θakjō
Proto-Italic *fakjō ‘to make’
Latin faciō ‘do, make’
Every English word from Latin sufficiō
Today it means
verb To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be adequate; to be good enough.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “suffice”. 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 / Latin sufficiō / suffice