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• en
  en

  noun

  the letter N, n.
• EN
  EN

  abbreviation

  endangered.
• en-
  en-

  a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from French and productive in English on this model, forming verbs with the general sense “to cause (a person or thing) to be in” the place, condition, or state named by the stem; more specifically, “to confine in or place on” (enshrine; enthrone; entomb ); “to cause to be in” (enslave; entrust; enrich; encourage; endear ); “to restrict” in the manner named by the stem, typically with the additional sense “on all sides, completely” (enwind; encircle; enclose; entwine ). This prefix is also attached to verbs in order to make them transitive, or to give them a transitive marker if they are already transitive (enkindle; enliven; enshield; enface ).
• -en
  -en

  a suffix formerly used to form transitive and intransitive verbs from adjectives (fasten; harden; sweeten ), or from nouns (heighten; lengthen; strengthen ).

en

¹ American  

[en] / ɛn /

noun

1. the letter N, n.

2. Also called nut.  Printing. half of the width of an em.

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adjective

1. Printing. having the area of an en quad or the length of an en.

   en quad; en dash.

EN ² American  

abbreviation

Biology, Ecology.

1. endangered.

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en- ³ American  

1. a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from French and productive in English on this model, forming verbs with the general sense “to cause (a person or thing) to be in” the place, condition, or state named by the stem; more specifically, “to confine in or place on” (enshrine; enthrone; entomb ); “to cause to be in” (enslave; entrust; enrich; encourage; endear ); “to restrict” in the manner named by the stem, typically with the additional sense “on all sides, completely” (enwind; encircle; enclose; entwine ). This prefix is also attached to verbs in order to make them transitive, or to give them a transitive marker if they are already transitive (enkindle; enliven; enshield; enface ).

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en- ⁴ American  

1. a prefix meaning “within, in,” occurring in loanwords from Greek.

   energy; enthusiasm.

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-en ⁵ American  

1. a suffix formerly used to form transitive and intransitive verbs from adjectives (fasten; harden; sweeten ), or from nouns (heighten; lengthen; strengthen ).

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-en ⁶ American  

1. a suffix used to form adjectives of source or material from nouns.

   ashen; golden; oaken.

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-en ⁷ American  

1. a suffix used to mark the past participle in many strong and some weak verbs.

   taken; proven.

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-en ⁸ American  

1. a suffix used in forming the plural of some nouns.

   brethren; children; oxen.

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-en ⁹ American  

1. a diminutive suffix.

   kitten; maiden.

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en- ¹ British  

prefix

1. (from nouns)

   1. put in or on

      entomb

      enthrone

   2. go on or into

      enplane

   3. surround or cover with

      enmesh

   4. furnish with

      empower

2. (from adjectives and nouns) cause to be in a certain condition

   enable

   encourage

   enrich

   enslave

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EN ² British  

abbreviation

1. enrolled nurse

2. English Nature

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-en ³ British  

suffix

1. cause to be; become; cause to have

   blacken

   heighten

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-en ⁴ British  

suffix

1. of; made of; resembling

   ashen

   earthen

   wooden

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en- ⁵ British  

prefix

1. in; into; inside

   endemic

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en ⁶ British  

/ ɛn /

noun

1. Also called: nut.  printing a unit of measurement, half the width of an em See also ennage

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Etymology

Origin of en¹

First recorded in 1785–95

Origin of en-³

Middle English < Old French < Latin in- in- ²

Origin of en-⁴

From Greek (often through Latin ); cognate with in- ¹, in- ²

Origin of -en⁵

Middle English, Old English -n- (as in Middle English fastnen, Old English fǣstnian “to make fast, fasten”); cognate with -n- of like verbs in other Germanic languages ( Old Norse fastna )

Origin of -en⁶

Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old High German -īn, Gothic -eins, Latin -īnus; see -ine ¹

Origin of -en⁷

Middle English, Old English; cognate with German -en, Old Norse -inn

Origin of -en⁸

Middle English; Old English -an, case ending of n-stem nouns, as in naman oblique singular, and nominative and accusative plural of nama “name”; akin to n-stem forms in other Indo-European languages, as in Latin nōmen, nōmin- “name”

Origin of -en⁹

Middle English, Old English, from neuter of -en ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

en EN en- -en

While the President was en route to California, authorities announced the arrest of an armed man who had been spotted suspiciously documenting security preparations at the golf course Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

As the lights suddenly turned off across Havana, residents who were sat outside to get some respite from the summer heat audibly groaned en masse.

From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026

However, Spanish law enforcement mobilized a mass-return effort in Ceuta, and by Friday afternoon local time, 48,300 had been sent back to Morocco, according to the Spanish government, with many more en route.

From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026

I was en route to the airport in Moline, Ill., nearly three decades ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

I’m on the bus with Fizz, en route to the mosque open house.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

Restaurant It’s a tie between EN Japanese Brasserie and Blue Ribbon in New York, which I guess you’d call high-level comfort food.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2019

At EN, a Japanese brasserie in the West Village, a waiter presented him with a small wooden box containing a Shout stain-remover towelette, a white cloth napkin, and a white paper napkin.

From The New Yorker ● Sep. 10, 2018

In June, French conglomerate Bouygues SA EN 0.32 % rebuffed Mr. Drahi’s offer to buy its telecom unit for €10 billion, or about $11 billion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2015

EN ROUTE  Mr. Green uploads photographs to his website, imjustwalking.com.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2012

You must learn, my dear Edward, to consider women EN MOUSQUETAIRE.'

From Waverley: or, 'Tis sixty years since by Scott, Walter, Sir

We en- courage states to continue to fight this public men- ace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being.

From Time ● Jul. 18, 2016

He en- tered the house shouting, “Hey, where are you?”

From MSNBC ● Oct. 22, 2014

The en- counters were so catastrophic that bits of the earth, as well as chunks of the intruder, were hurled into space and then fell back.

From Time Magazine Archive

In en- gineering innovations Westinghouse has kept in stride with Otis by matching Otis' double-decker elevators in Manhattan's Cities Service Building with a system for running two elevators in the same shaft.

From Time Magazine Archive

In 1886 the big packing-house strike broke out in Chicago and Adam’s regiment en- trained, but the strike was settled before they were needed.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

All three have names that end in -en, which may or may not be relevant.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 13, 2021

And similarly the endings -ōno, -ōm and the endings of the other oblique forms were all weakened to -en in MHG.

From A Middle High German Primer Third Edition by Wright, Joseph

Those in -em, -en generally retain the e in the dative plural.

From A Middle High German Primer Third Edition by Wright, Joseph

The feminine “vixen” represents the O. Eng. fyxen, due to the change from o to y, and addition of the feminine termination -en, cf.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 7 "Fox, George" to "France" by Various

Robert of Brunne, in his “Handlyng Synne,” often employs it instead of -en, but only for the sake of the rhyme.

From Early English Alliterative Poems in the West-Midland Dialect of the Fourteenth Century by Morris, Richard