enough

• enow (archaic, often plural)
• anough (obsolete)
• aneuch, eneduch, eneugh (Scotland)
• 'nough
• enuff

From Middle English ynogh, from Old English ġenōg (“enough”), from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ganuganą 'to suffice' (compare Old English ġeneah), or from *ga- + an unattested *nōgaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nó(n)ḱe (“he has reached, attained”), perfective of *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”) (compare Old Irish tánaic (“he arrived”), Latin nancisci (“to get”), Lithuanian nèšti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to please, satisfy”), Ancient Greek ἐνεγκεῖν (enenkeîn, “to carry”).).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnʌf/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnʌf/, /i-/, /ə-/

  • Audio (GA)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf

enough

1. Sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate.
   1. Used before a noun in the manner of words like some, a bit of, and so on.

      I've already had enough coffee today.

   2. (archaic) Used after a noun.

      There is food enough for us all.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 15:17:

        How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare!

      • 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:

        But it wasn’t ransom enough.
        His captors accepted it all,
        But didn’t let go of the king.

When used after a noun, the article is omitted, and it often describes an inherent adjectival quality of that noun rather than a tangible portion. Thus one hears

 He is man enough for the job

 He is the man enough for the job.

 He is a man enough for the job.

• Sranan Tongo: nofo

enough

1. Sufficiently.

   I cannot run fast enough to catch up to them.

   You've worked enough; rest for a bit.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’

2. Fully; quite; used after adjectives to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.

   He is ready enough to accept the offer.

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     I know you well enough; you are Signior Antonio.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

3. Used after certain adverbs to emphasise that a quality is notable, unexpected, etc.

   Talking of Mr Smith, funnily enough, I saw him just the other day.

   I left my camera on the train, but luckily enough someone handed it in to lost property.

• As an adverb, in modern English, enough almost always follows the verb, adjective or adverb that it qualifies. In older language and certain dialects, cases where it precedes the modified word, e.g. "He was enough satisfied" or "I was not enough recompensed", may be seen.
• The archaic form enow was remarked as early as Samuel Johnson to be used for plural nouns.

enough

1. A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.

   I have enough (of it) to keep me going.

   Enough of you are here to begin the class.

   Get some more plates. There aren’t enough yet.

   Not enough is known yet about the causes of the pandemic.

   There wasn't enough of an economic surplus.

enough!

1. Stop! Don't do that any more!

   I'm sick of you complaining! Enough!

enough (plural enoughs)

1. (rare, chiefly in the plural) An instance of being sufficient, or of doing something sufficiently.
   • 1909, Edwin Balmer, Waylaid by Wireless: A Suspicion, a Warning, a Sporting Proposition, and a Transatlantic Pursuit, page 29:

     And she was neither beautiful nor handsome, but just at the point halfway between which a girl of twenty-three reaches who inherits good features and healthful figure, and who has learned to dance well, ride well, study enough, golf enough, and has attained the thousand other "well and enoughs" which include talking well and listening enough, and allow a woman to be liked and loved with so little consciousness that she never suspects she is particularly liked at all.