-en

• IPA^(key): /ən/, [ən], [n̩]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• In many accents, -en routinely gives up its vowel syllable when given additional suffixes. For example, fatten /ˈfæt.ən/ + -ing /-ɪŋ/ can be /ˈfæt.ən.ɪŋ/ or /ˈfæt.nɪŋ/.
  • Even in many accents where this habitual syllable deletion is less usual, the syllable loss may still predominate for certain formations that have become common words in their own right, such as gardener /ɡɑː(ɹ)d.nə(ɹ)/.
  • Syllable loss is sometimes prevented to avoid merging with more normalized derivatives, such as for keeping lightening /ˈlaɪt.ən.ɪŋ/ from being pronounced identically to the established term lightning /ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/ (notice the e is no longer written), even though they derive from a combination of lighten + -ing.
    • But syllable loss may resume with inflections that are not in danger of merging with an established word, such as enlightening, which can be pronounced /ɛnˈlaɪt.ən.ɪŋ/ or /ɛnˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/ because "enlightning" is not a common word.

From Middle English -n, -en, past participle ending of strong verbs (compare Middle English take(n), took, taken (“take, took, taken”)), from Old Norse -inn, past participle ending of strong verbs (compare Old Norse taka, tók, tekinn (“take, took, taken”)). From Proto-Norse *-ᛁᚾᚨ- (*-ina-), from Proto-Germanic *-inaz, a variant of *-anaz. Replaced the native past participle ending of strong verbs (from Old English -en) in some words, which had weakened to -e or disappeared (compare Southern Middle English do(n), dud(e), ydo (“do, did, done”)), but not in others (compare cume(n), com, ycume (“come, came, come”)), from Proto-Germanic *-anaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-nós.

• -n

-en

1. (no longer productive) Denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb.

   ‎take + ‎-en → ‎taken

   ‎forgive + ‎-en → ‎forgiven

   ‎prove + ‎-en → ‎proven

2. Denotes a quasi-past participle or participle-like adjective when attached to a noun or verb.

   ‎fork + ‎-en → ‎forken (“forked”)

   ‎pave + ‎-en → ‎paven (“paved”)

   ‎barefoot + ‎-en → ‎bare-footen (“bare-footed”)

   ‎enslave + ‎-en → ‎enslaven (“enslaved”)

Some linguistic writing on English, such as The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, uses -en as the name of an abstract morpheme which forms the past participle of all English verbs. Including ones which do not actually use the suffix -en are described as "cook + -en → cooked".

From Middle English -en, from Old English -an, from Proto-Germanic *-an-, *-in-, from Proto-Indo-European *-én-.

From Middle English -n (in words ending in a vowel: flee: fleen "flea: fleas") and -en. Noun plural marker (predominantly in Southern dialects of Middle English), from Old English nominative-accusative plural ending of weak nouns (n-stem declension); compare ‎nama m (“name”) + ‎-en → ‎naman (“names”); ‎hlǣfdīġe f (“lady”) + ‎-en → ‎hlǣfdīġan (“ladies”); ‎ēare n (“ear”) + ‎-en → ‎ēaran (“ears”). Assisted by Middle English dative plural ending -n, -en from late O.E. -un, -on, weakened form of earlier -um. Akin to Old High German n-stem (compare namo: namon "name: names"), Latin n-stem (compare homo: homin-).

• -n

-en

1. Used to denote the plural form of a small number of English nouns, the majority of whose etymologies go back to the n-stem (i.e. weak noun) declension of Germanic languages.

   Examples in general modern use:

   ‎aurochs + ‎-en → ‎aurochsen[1]

   ‎brother + ‎-en → ‎brethren (religious sense)[1]

   ‎child + ‎-en → ‎children (cf. childer)[1]

   ‎ox + ‎-en → ‎oxen[1]

   Archaic or dialectal examples:

   ‎bee + ‎-en → ‎been

   ‎cheese + ‎-en → ‎cheesen

   ‎ky (“cows”) + ‎-en → ‎kine

   ‎knee + ‎-en → ‎kneen

   ‎ey + ‎-en → ‎eyren

   ‎eye + ‎-en → ‎eyen

   ‎feather + ‎-en → ‎feathern

   ‎fox + ‎-en → ‎foxen

   ‎horse + ‎-en → ‎horsen

   ‎hose + ‎-en → ‎hosen

   ‎house + ‎-en → ‎housen

   ‎pease + ‎-en → ‎peasen

   ‎shoe + ‎-en → ‎shoon

   ‎sister + ‎-en → ‎sistren

   ‎tree + ‎-en → ‎treen

   • 1890, John Drummond Robertson, lord Henry Haughton Reynolds Moreton, A Glossary of Dialect & Archaic Words Used in the County of Gloucester:

     Moder, gyn, will not y washen' the dishen'. i. Mother, Jone, will not wash the dishes.

2. (nonstandard, rare, often dialectal or humorous) Used to form the plural of nouns.

   ‎box + ‎-en → ‎boxen

   ‎VAX + ‎-en → ‎VAXen

   • 2007, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology:

     There was one other user logged in, “scaredy,” and he checked the process monitor and saw that scaredy had spawned all the hundreds of processes that were probing him and plenty of other boxen.

   • 2012, Jenny Lawson, Let's Pretend This Never Happened:

     Victor and I are having a huge argument about whether or not to feed the foxen. Victor says yes, because they're adorable and— according to the neighbors—are quite tame. I say no, because we have a fat little pug who likes to frolic outside occasionally and I don't want to see him eaten. I thought we were on the same page about the fox, but then Victor went and threw an apple at it. And I was all, “What the fuck? We don't feed the foxen,” and he said, “I was throwing the apple at it to chase it away,” but Victor is a tremendous liar, and he didn't go to pick up the apple, probably because he knows that foxen love apple cider.

   • 2015, David Greygoose, Brunt Boggart:

     For now the boys grew whiskers and hung fox pelts from their shoulders and the girlen all wore scarlet skirts and braided ribbons through their hair.

• Not productive, outside of occasional humorous use, particularly in computer hacker subculture. Notable examples are boxen, Unixen, VAXen, all of which are modelled on oxen.
• This ending is also found on some plurals that were borrowed intact from Dutch or German, like klompen, lagerstätten, lederhosen.

• -ren

• Category:English plurals in -en

From Middle English -(e)nen, -(e)nien, from Old English -nian, from Proto-Germanic *-inōną. Cognate with Danish -ne, Swedish -na, Icelandic -na.

-en

1. When attached to certain adjectives, it forms a transitive verb whose meaning is, to make (adjective). Usually, the verb is ergative, sometimes not. The same construction could also be done to certain (fewer) nouns, as, strengthen, in which case the verb means roughly, "to give (noun) to", or "to become like (noun)".

   ‎white (adjective) + ‎-en → ‎whiten

   ‎quick + ‎-en → ‎quicken

   ‎strength (noun) + ‎-en → ‎strengthen

   ‎haste + ‎-en → ‎hasten

   ‎night + ‎-en → ‎nighten

• Although -en is a very common verb ending, it is not currently very productive in forming new words, being mostly restricted to monosyllabic bases which end in an obstruent; new formations tend to be nonstandard or humorous.

From Middle English -en, from Old English -en, from Proto-West Germanic *-īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz; suffix meaning "made of, consisting of, having the qualities of" applied to nouns to form adjectives. Akin to Dutch -en, German -en, Icelandic -inn, Latin -īnus. See -ine.

• -in

-en

1. Suffix meaning "pertaining to", "having the qualities of", "resembling", "like".

   ‎wolf + ‎-en → ‎wolven

   ‎peach + ‎-en → ‎peachen

   ‎goat + ‎-en → ‎goaten

2. When attached to certain nouns that are the names of a material, it forms an adjective whose meaning is, made of (noun). This is a formative pattern with many obsolescent remnants. Fowler (1926) pointed out the tendency for the -en forms to be restricted to metaphorical and secondary senses. Changes in the form of the root noun, and the dropping of the "e" in the suffix occur. There are also orphan formations whose root has been lost to the current language.

   Current examples used in a literal and sometimes metaphorical sense:

   ‎wood + ‎-en → ‎wooden

   ‎gold + ‎-en → ‎golden

   ‎wheat + ‎-en → ‎wheaten

   ‎oat + ‎-en → ‎oaten

   ‎silk + ‎-en → ‎silken

   ‎earth + ‎-en → ‎earthen

   ‎flax + ‎-en → ‎flaxen

   ‎lead + ‎-en → ‎leaden

   ‎wool + ‎-en → ‎woollen

   ‎oak + ‎-en → ‎oaken

   Examples where a metaphorical sense is common but the literal sense is rare or archaic:

   ‎brass + ‎-en → ‎brazen ("shameless")

   Rare or archaic examples:

   ‎ash + ‎-en → ‎ashen ("made of ash-tree wood"; ashen "grey like ashes, appalled" is still current)

   ‎box + ‎-en → ‎boxen ("made of boxwood")

   ‎bronze + ‎-en → ‎bronzen

   ‎silver + ‎-en → ‎silvern

   ‎cedar + ‎-en → ‎cedarn

   ‎leather + ‎-en → ‎leathern

   ‎copper + ‎-en → ‎coppern

   ‎paper + ‎-en → ‎papern

   ‎brick + ‎-en → ‎bricken

   ‎board + ‎-en → ‎boarden

   ‎tree + ‎-en → ‎treen

   ‎hemp + ‎-en → ‎hempen

   Orphan examples:

   ‎line (“flax”) + ‎-en → ‎linen

From Middle English -en, from Old English -en, from the neuter form of -en (“pertaining to”, adjective-forming suffix).

-en

1. Used to form the diminutives of certain nouns.

   ‎chick + ‎-en → ‎chicken

   ‎maid + ‎-en → ‎maiden

   ‎smitch, smidge + ‎-en → ‎smidgen

• -ock
• -ling

From Middle English -en, from Old English -en, from Proto-West Germanic *inī.

-en

1. Denotes a female form of a few nouns.

   ‎fox + ‎-en → ‎vixen (“female fox”)

   ‎monk + ‎-en → ‎minchen (“nun”) (obsolete)

From Middle English -en, a blending of Old English infinitives -an and -n, from Proto-Germanic *-aną; and Old English -on and -en, the indicative and subjunctive past tense plural endings of verbs.

-en

1. (obsolete) Used to form the infinitive of verbs.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     The Sonne compell'd, beene Butcher to the Sire […]

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     As gentle Shepheard in sweete euen-tide, When ruddy Phoebus gins to welke in west, High on an hill, his flocke to vewen wide […]

   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     From others' labours; for though he strive
     To killen bad, keep good alive;

   • 1844, William Barnes, “Bringen Wonne Gwäin O' Zundays”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:
2. (obsolete) Used to form the plural present tense of verbs.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, →OCLC:

     And when the shining sunne laugheth once,
     You deemen the spring is come attonce.
     Tho gynne you, fond flyes, the cold to scorne,
     And, crowing in pypes made of greene corne,
     You thinken to be lords of the yeare.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     So forth they marchen in this goodly sort,
     To take the solace of the open aire,

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
     And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
     A merrier hour was never wasted there.

   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     All perishen of man, of pelf,
     Ne aught escapen but himself;

3. (obsolete, now nonstandard, dialectal) Used to form the plural past tense of verbs.
   • 1883, Charlotte Sophia Burne, Georgina Frederica Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore: A Sheaf of Gleanings, page 46:

     […] but they tooken on 'em soft, an' maden out as they wun right glad to see 'em agen, an axt 'em to come in an' a some mate an' drink.

   • 2010, Kathi Purnell, Silent Heroes, page 188:

     Both of them had snow on their boots, and a little on the hems of their coats, but they weren't all froze cold like yesterday. “We tooken the bus,” RJ told us.

   • 2014, John D. MacDonald, Deadly Welcome:

     Sure you've seen me before, Doyle. Turkey Kimbroy and I, we tooken you over to Davis long time ago to he'p you get in the army.

• Having begun to fade by the 15th century, it was used in Early Modern English primarily to show archaic or rustic speech.
• The weakening and loss of the marker caused some verbs to blend with verbs marked by Etymology 3; for example, Middle English leren (“to teach”) blended with lernen (“to learn”), which resulted in learn having a (dialectal) double meaning.

• nê, né, Ne., ne, -ne-, NE, ne., -ne

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. Used to form the superlative form of adjectives and adverbs.

   ‎handi (“big”) + ‎-en → ‎handien (“biggest”)

   ‎zahar (“old”) + ‎-en → ‎zaharren (“oldest”)

-en

1. Genitive indefinite suffix.

   Alternative form: -ren (after a vowel)

   ‎txakur (“dog”) + ‎-en → ‎txakurren (“of some dogs, some dogs'”)

2. Genitive plural suffix.

   ‎ahizpa (“sister”) + ‎-en → ‎ahizpen (“of the sisters, the sisters'”)

3. Used to form fractions; -th

   ‎bost (“five”) + ‎-en → ‎bosten (“fifth”)

-en

1. Allomorphic form of -n (“that, which”).

• “adizkiaren forma-aldaketak, aditz laguntzailea + menderagailuak (-(e)n, -(e)la, -(e)lako...) elartzean” in Euskara Batuaren Eskuliburua [Handbook of Standard Basque], euskaltzaindia.eus

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. of

• -un

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. Forms the singular definite form of nouns of the common gender.
2. Forms gerunds from verbs, these nouns being indeclinable and of the common gender.
3. (organic chemistry) Identifies an alkene, these being of either the common or the neuter gender; -ene.
4. (obsolete) Forms adverbs from adjectives, now displaced by -t.

   hjerteligen, antageligen

• If the noun from which the singular definite is formed already ends in an unstressed schwa, this is not doubled: kage, kagen (but if the -e is stressed, a schwa is appended normally: ske, skeen; allé, alléen). If it ends with a consonant and the last vowel is short, the last consonant is usually doubled in native and nativized words, if it is one of {k, l, m, n, p, s, t}: hat, hatten. This is however not a reliable rule.

• IPA^(key): /ə(n)/
• In most regions the final -n is silent except optionally in enunciation and as a hiatus breaker before a (typically unstressed) vowel in the following word. In western Belgium and parts of the north-eastern Netherlands, however, the /n/ is commonly sounded and may become syllabic [m̩], [n̩], [ŋ̍] (as in German, see below).

Primarily from weak class 2, from Middle Dutch -en, from Old Dutch -on, from Proto-West Germanic *-ōn, from Proto-Germanic *-ōną, from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti (denominative) and *-h₂ti (factitive).

-en

1. Forms verbs from nouns and adjectives. The stem of the word itself does not change.

For verb stems ending in a voiced consonant:

For verb stems ending in a voiceless consonant:

From Middle Dutch -ijn, -in, -en, from Old Dutch *-īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz.

-en

1. Forms adjectives that indicate the substance from which something is made.

From Middle Dutch -en, a merger of various Old Dutch infinitive suffixes:

• The strong infinitive -an, from Proto-Germanic *-aną.
• The weak class 1 infinitive -en, -ien, from Proto-Germanic *-janą, *-ijaną.
• The weak class 2 infinitive -on, from Proto-Germanic *-ōną.

-en

1. Ending of the infinitive form of verbs.

From Middle Dutch -en, from Old Dutch -an, from Proto-Germanic *-anaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-nós.

-en

1. The ending of the past participle of strong verbs. This can also function as an adjective.

From various case forms of the Germanic weak nominal inflection.

-en

1. The ending of the plural form of many nouns.
2. Taken by adjectives used as nouns, to form the plural form of such nouns.

   ‎groot + ‎-en → ‎de groten (“the great ones”)

3. (archaic, not productive) The ending of a number of weak case endings of the adjective or the article.

   ‎een + ‎-en → ‎ten enen male

4. (archaic, not productive) The ending of the genitive case of certain nouns.

   ‎de hertog + ‎-en → ‎des hertogen, a genitive preserved in 's-Hertogenbosch

From various first- and third-person plural forms of Germanic verbs.

-en

1. The ending of the plural forms of verbs, in both present and past tense.

From Old Dutch -ana, from Proto-West Germanic *-anā, from Proto-Germanic *-anē.

-en

1. A suffix present on certain adverbs.

   ‎voor + ‎-en → ‎van voren (“from the front”)

• IPA^(key): /en/

-en (adverbial)

1. (enclitic, after a consonant) Alternative form of in

   Mānjen un pōk! ― Eat some of it! (imperative, singular)

See -Vn (illative).

-en

1. Suffix variant for the illative singular, see -Vn.

From Proto-Finnic *-dën.

-en

1. Suffix for the genitive plural. Usually preceded by the plural marker -i- or -j-, but may also have a consonant separator -d- after the plural marker if the words would otherwise have 3 consecutive vowels.

See -Vn (possessive).

-en

1. (possessive) A variant for the third-person suffix -nsa.
2. (personal) Forms the impersonal potential present forms of verbs. Appended to the impersonal potential stem, which consists of the first infinitive followed by the potential mood marker -ne-.

See the usage notes under -Vn and -nsa.

The instructive singular of -e-.

-en

1. Forms the instructive case of the second infinitive of verbs.

• -ne, -ne-, ne

From Middle High German -en, a merger of various terminations in Old High German reflecting different conjugational patterns, namely -an, -ōn, -en (-ien), and -nen, from Proto-Germanic *-aną, *-ōną, *-janą, *-āną, and *-naną.

• -n (after -er, -el; in sein, tun, and some dated/poetic/colloquial forms such as gehn, stehn)
• -'n (alternatively in the dated/poetic/colloquial forms)

• IPA^(key): /ən/
  • IPA^(key): [ən] (possible in all contexts, but rare in most regions)
  • IPA^(key): [m̩] (after labial stops and sometimes labial nasals and fricatives)
  • IPA^(key): [ŋ̍] (after velar stops and sometimes velar nasals and fricatives)
  • IPA^(key): [l̩n] (with -l- after a full vowel)
  • IPA^(key): [ɐn] (with -r- after a full vowel)
  • IPA^(key): [n̩] (otherwise)

-en

1. A suffix of verbs in their infinitive form.

   Accordingly, the suffix is also applied to verbs borrowed from other languages, and may be understood as the suffix for denominal verbs in general (actually -∅ derivation or conversion plus an inflectional suffix that happens to be part of the citation form of a German verb).

   ‎Foul + ‎-en → ‎foulen (“to foul”)

   managen ― to manage

2. A suffix indicating the 1st and 3rd person plural forms (except the present indicative sind of sein).

   wir kommen ― we arrive

   sie kommen ― they arrive

3. A suffix appended to strong verb stems to form the past participle, usually together with ge-.

   fallen + ge- and -en → gefallen

From Middle High German -en, a merger of various terminations in Old High German reflecting different declensional patterns.

• -n (after -er, -el in nouns, but not usually in adjectives; in Herrn)

• IPA^(key): /ən/ (variants as in etymology 1)

-en

1. A suffix appended to some nouns in all of their plural forms. These nouns are so-called “weak” or “mixed” nouns; they are most often feminine, often masculine, rarely neuter.
2. A suffix appended to weak masculine nouns in all oblique cases of the singular, and to some mixed nouns in the singular dative and accusative
3. A suffix appended to most other nouns, the so-called “strong” nouns, in their plural dative
4. A suffix (in fact, the most common declensional ending) which is appended to determiners, adjectives, and participles, for multiple forms of all grammatical cases, both singular and plural.

• (plural suffix): -e, -er, -s

From Middle High German -en, from Old High German -īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz.

• -n (after -er, -el)
• -ern

• IPA^(key): /ən/ (variants as in etymology 1)

-en

1. A suffix which is used to create adjectives that most often refer to materials

   ‎Gold (“gold”, noun) + ‎-en → ‎golden (“gold, golden”, adjective)

From the Ancient Greek -ηνός (-ēnós) feminine patronymic suffix.

• IPA^(key): /ˈeːn/

-en

1. (chemistry) -ene (alkene suffix)

• IPA^(key): [ɛn]
• Rhymes: -ɛn

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en (superessive case suffix)

1. on

   ‎szék (“chair”) + ‎-en → ‎széken (“on [a/the] chair”)

   Az asztal mellett ültem egy széken. ― I sat on a chair next to the table.

   A széken könyvek hevertek. ― There were books on the chair.

• (superessive case suffix) Variants:

  -n is added to words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.

  -on is added to back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  -en is added to unrounded front-vowel words ending in a consonant

  -ön is added to rounded front-vowel words ending in a consonant

• Category:Hungarian terms taking -n/-on/-en/-ön
• Category:Hungarian noun forms

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. (deadjectival adverb-forming suffix) -ly. Added to an adjective to create an adverb.

   ‎szép (“beautiful”) + ‎-en → ‎szépen (“beautifully”)

   ‎könnyű (“light, easy”) + ‎-en → ‎könnyen (“easily”)

   ‎bő (“ample”) + ‎-en → ‎bőven (“amply”)

   ‎hű (“faithful”) + ‎-en → ‎híven (“faithfully”), aside from the regular hűen

   1. In Hungarian, this adverb form is used for certain complements that are adjectives in English.

      Nyersen eszi a répát. ― S/he eats carrots raw.

2. (denumeral and depronominal adverb-forming suffix) Added to a numeral or a pronoun with this sense to create an adverb, expressing the number of people.

   ‎kettő (“two”) + ‎-en → ‎ketten (“two people, two of us/you/them”)

   Ketten vannak a szobában. ― There are two people in the room.

   ‎öt (“five”) + ‎-en → ‎öten (“five people, five of us/you/them”)

   ‎hét (“seven”) + ‎-en → ‎heten (“seven people, seven of us/you/them”)

   Heten mentünk moziba. ― Seven of us went to the cinema.

   ‎kevés (“few”) + ‎-en → ‎kevesen (“few people, few of us/you/them”)

   Sokan vannak a meghívottak, de kevesen a választottak. ― For many are called, but few are chosen.

   ‎ezer (“thousand”) + ‎-en → ‎ezren (“a thousand people, a thousand of us/you/them”)

• (deadjectival adverb-forming suffix) Variants:

  -n is added to words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.

  -an is added to most back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  -on is added to some back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  -en is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant, as well as some front-vowel words ending in a vowel. Their original word-final vowel may be lost (e.g. könnyű) or supplemented with a consonant (e.g. bő, hű).

• (denumeral and depronominal adverb-forming suffix) Variants:

  -n is added to some (very few) words ending in a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-. Final -e changes to -é-.

  -an is added to back-vowel words ending in a consonant

  -en is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant, as well as some front-vowel words ending in a vowel. Their original word-final vowel may be lost (e.g. kettő).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. (verb-forming suffix) Added to a stem — often an onomatopoeia — to form a verb expressing an instantaneous action.

   reccsen (“to crackle, to make one cracking sound”)

   retten (“to be frightened, to recoil, to flinch, to shy away from”)

• (verb-forming suffix) Variants:

  -on is added to some back-vowel words

  -an is added to back-vowel words

  -en is added to front-vowel words

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-en

1. (personal suffix, chiefly dialectal or archaic) Forms the indefinite third-person singular suffix (currently only in the imperative mood as part of -jen, formerly also occurring in the indicative).

   nincsen (“he/she/it isn't, there is none of it”)

   van/lenni (“to be”) → legyen (“he/she/it should be, there should be”)

   ‎kér (“to ask/request”) + ‎-en → ‎kérjen (“he/she/it should ask for some[thing]”)

   ‎megy (“to go”) + ‎-en → ‎megyen (“he/she/it goes, is going”) (in the standard language: megy)

   ‎vesz (“to take/grab”) + ‎-en → ‎veszen (“he/she/it takes/grabs”) (in the standard language: vesz)

   ‎visz (“to take/carry”) + ‎-en → ‎viszen (“he/she/it takes/carries”) (in the standard language: visz)

• (personal suffix) Variants:

  -n is added to certain irregular stems

  -on is added to back-vowel words

  -en is added to unrounded front-vowel words

  -ön is added to rounded front-vowel words

• Appendix:Hungarian suffixes

• László Honti (Q13780671). A magyar nyelv 3. személyeket jelölő morfémái (“Third-person morphemes in Hungarian”). In: Nyelvtudományi Közlemények, vol. 116, Budapest, 2020, pp. 7–70.
• László Grétsy (Q1028376). A nincs és a nincsen. In: Magyar Nemzet, January 16, 2003.
• (suffix of the adverb of number): Rounds, Carol. Hungarian: an Essential Grammar. London / New York: Routledge. 2001. →ISBN. Preview at Google Books, p. 189 (p. 204 in the PDF)

-en

1. Rōmaji transcription of えん

From Middle Low German -inge, from Old Saxon -unga, from Proto-Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō. Cognate with Dutch -ing, Swedish -ning, German -ung, English -ing.

• IPA^(key): /ən/

-en f

1. forms nouns from verbs (called gerunds) or other nouns, usually describing either an event in which an action is carried out, or the result of that action; the equivalent of English -ing

   ‎bedüden (“to mean”) + ‎-en → ‎de Bedüden (“the meaning”)

   ‎Huus (“house”) + ‎-en → ‎de Hüsen (“the dwelling”)

From Middle Low German -en, a blending of Old Saxon infinitives -an, -ian and -on, from Proto-Germanic *-aną.

-en

1. Used to form the infinitive of verbs.

• -'n

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /en/, [ən]

-en

1. Used for some nouns to form plural forms.
2. Used to show the infinitive form of verbs.
3. A suffix which is used to create adjectives that refer to materials

The suffix -en, like any ending that involves either -n or -nn, is subject to the Eifeler Regel. For example, Versioune weisen.

A merger of various infinitive suffixes:

• The strong infinitive Old Dutch -an, from Proto-Germanic *-aną.
• The weak class 1 infinitive Old Dutch -en, -ien, from Proto-Germanic *-janą, *-ijaną.
• The weak class 2 infinitive Old Dutch -on, from Proto-Germanic *-ōną.

-en

1. The ending of the infinitive form of verbs, used as a suffix to form new verbs as well.

• Dutch: -en

From the Old Dutch [Term?] strong past participle ending -an, from Proto-Germanic *-anaz.

-en

1. The ending of the past participle of strong verbs.

• Dutch: -en

From various first and third-person plural forms of Germanic verbs.

-en

1. The ending of the first- and third-person plural forms of verbs.

• Dutch: -en

From Old Dutch *-īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz.

-en

1. Alternative form of -in

From Old Norse -inn, past participle ending of strong verbs, from Proto-Norse -ᛁᚾᚨᛉ (*-inaz), from Proto-Germanic *-inaz, *-anaz (past participle ending of strong verbs). Replaced the native past participle ending of strong verbs (from Old English -en) in some words, which had weakened to -e or disappeared.

• -n, -e

-en

1. Denotes the past participle form when attached to a strong verb.

In many cases y- and -en are added together as a circumfix.

The full -en was better-preserved in the northern dialects, whereas in many cases the southern dialects shortened the affix to -n.

• English: -en

• “-en, suf.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -an.

• -n, -e

-en

1. Denotes the infinitive when attached to verbs.

• “-en, suf.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -on, -en.

• -e

-en

1. Denotes the past indicative plural form of verbs.
2. Denotes the present and past subjunctive plural form of verbs.
3. Denotes the present indicative plural form of certain verbs.

This suffix was increasingly reduced to -e.

The use of this suffix as present indicative plural was common in the Midland area, replacing -eth, -eþ.

• English: -en

• “-en, suf.(7).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -an, a plural and oblique case marker.

• -n

-en

1. Denotes the plural form of certain nouns.
2. Denotes the oblique cases of certain nouns.
3. Denotes the oblique cases and plural forms of weak adjectives.

This suffix as a plural marker is most heavily used in early Middle English, and is generally favoured in southern dialects, whereas northern dialects largely supplanted it with -es early.

• English: -en

• “-en, suf.(5).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.
• “-en, suf.(6).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -um.

-en

1. Denotes the dative singular and plural of strong adjectives.

• “-en, suf.(6).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -en (“characteristic of; made of”), from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz.

• -ene, -yn, -in, -on, -un, -n

-en

1. Attached to a noun to form an adjective describing something as characteristic of, like, or pertaining to that noun.
2. Attached to a noun that denotes a material to form an adjective describing something as made of that material.

The affixion of -en is sometimes accompanied by a mutation in the root vowel.

• English: -en
• Scots: -en, -in

• “-en, suf.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -en.

-en

1. Denotes a diminutive form of a noun.

• English: -en

From Old English -en.

-en

1. Denotes a female form of a small, fixed number of nouns.

• “-en, suf.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 April 2018.

From Old English -nian, from Proto-Germanic *-inōną.

-en

1. Alternative form of -enen.

From Ancient Greek -ηνή (-ēnḗ), feminine form of -ηνός (-ēnós, added to place name to form an adjective), from -νός (-nós), alternative form of -νος (-nos), from Proto-Indo-European *-nós (creates verbal adjectives from roots).

• IPA^(key): /eːn/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːn
• Hyphenation: -en
• Homophone: en

-en (definite singular neuter -enet, definite singular masculine -enen, indefinite plural -en or -ener, definite plural -enene or -ena)

1. (organic chemistry) Used to form nouns denoting alkynes; -ene

   acetylen, benzen ― acetylene, benzene

2. (organic chemistry) Used to form nouns denoting alkenes; -ene

   etylen, propylen ― ethylene, propylene

• “-en” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

• en, ne

• IPA^(key): /en/

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *-īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īną.

-en n

1. (causes i-mutation) used to create diminutive neuter nouns

   ‎mæġeþ (“girl”) + ‎-en → ‎mæġden (“girl,” originally “little girl”)

   ‎cocc (“rooster”) + ‎-en → ‎ċycen, ċicen (“chick”)

   ‎broþ (“broth, brewing”) + ‎-en → ‎bryþen (“brewing, drink”)

Neuter

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *-ini, from Proto-Germanic *-inī.

• -in

-en f

1. (often causes i-mutation) used to create feminine nouns from other nouns

   ‎god (“(male) god”) + ‎-en → ‎gyden (“goddess”) (with i-mutation)

   ‎þēow (“(male) servant”) + ‎-en → ‎þiewen (“female servant”) (without i-mutation)

Feminine

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *-īn, from Proto-Germanic *-īnaz.

-en

1. (causes i-mutation) adjectival suffix meaning "material made of, consisting of”, also sometimes “characteristic of”.

   ‎gold (“gold”) + ‎-en → ‎gylden (“golden”)

   ‎ātor (“poison”) + ‎-en → ‎ǣtren (“venomous, poisonous”)

   ‎stān (“stone”) + ‎-en → ‎stǣnen (“stonen”)

   ‎āc (“oak”) + ‎-en → ‎ǣcen (“oaken”)

   ‎trēow (“tree”) + ‎-en → ‎triewen (“wooden”)

   ‎līn (“flax”) + ‎-en → ‎līnen (“linen”)

   ‎sǣ (“sea”) + ‎-en → ‎sǣn (“marine”)

   ‎fæder (“father”) + ‎-en → ‎fæderen (“paternal”)