I. _ən, ə n sometimes ə m after p, b, f, or v sometimes ə ŋ after k or g adjective suffix
also -n noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German -īn made of, Old Norse -inn, Gothic -eins made of, of or belonging to, Latin -inus (with long ī ) of or belonging to, Greek -inos made of, of or belonging to, Sanskrit -īna of or belonging to
: made of : consisting of
earth en
wool en
— now relatively infrequent because of the widespread attributive use of nouns or of adjectives formed from nouns without the addition of a suffix (as in gold cup, wheat cake) and to be found chiefly in adjectives which are obsolete
tinn en
or archaic
oak en
or in which a sense other than the literal one has become prominent
gold en
wood en
— usually -n after -er
silver n
II. verb suffix
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English -nen, from Old English -nian (as in fæstnian to fasten); akin to Old Saxon -nōn, final segment of certain transitive infinitives (as in fastnōn to fasten), Old High German -inōn (as in festinōn to fasten), Old Norse -na (as in fastna to pledge, betroth)
1.
a. : cause to be
sharp en
— sometimes in verbs that also have the prefix en-
embold en
— in transitive verbs formed from adjectives
b. : cause to have
length en
— in transitive verbs formed from nouns
2.
a. : come to be
steep en
— in intransitive verbs formed from adjectives
b. : come to have
length en
— in intransitive verbs formed from nouns