Ful

¹

[ fool ]

noun

, plural Fuls, (especially collectively) Ful.

1. Fulani.

-ful

²

1. a suffix meaning “full of,” “characterized by” ( shameful; beautiful; careful; thoughtful ); “tending to,” “able to” ( wakeful; harmful ); “as much as will fill” ( spoonful ).

-ful

suffix

1. forming adjectives full of or characterized by

   spiteful

   painful

   restful

2. forming adjectives able or tending to

   helpful

   useful

3. forming nouns indicating as much as will fill the thing specified

   mouthful

   spoonful

Usage

Where the amount held by a spoon, etc, is used as a rough unit of measurement, the correct form is spoonful , etc: take a spoonful of this medicine every day . Spoon full is used in a sentence such as he held out a spoon full of dark liquid , where full of describes the spoon. A plural form such as spoonfuls is preferred by many speakers and writers to spoonsful

Spelling Note

The plurals of nouns ending in -ful are usually formed by adding -s to the suffix: two cupfuls; two scant teaspoonfuls. Perhaps influenced by the phrase in which a noun is followed by the adjective full ( both arms full of packages ), some speakers and writers pluralize such nouns by adding -s before the suffix: two cupsful.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ful¹

Middle English, Old English -full, -ful, representing full, ful full ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ful¹

Old English -ful, -full , from full ¹

Example Sentences

American Apparel Introduces Size XL, Holds Search For ‘Booty-Ful’ Models.

From The Daily Beast

She's done got a pow'ful quick tempah, my Miss Betty has, same's all my Somerset family had, bein' fust quality folks lak dey was.

From Project Gutenberg

This line is too long; I omit ful wel devysed, which is not in the original.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a skittish horse, gentle, as Andy explained, but "pow'ful nervous—had to be sort o' coaxed along."

From Project Gutenberg

The Ellern is a tree with long bowes, ful sounde and sad wythout, and ful holowe within, and ful of certayne nesshe pyth.

From Project Gutenberg

And certainly a fine Medlar tree "ful of blossomes" is a handsome ornament on any lawn.

From Project Gutenberg

Words That Use -ful

What does -ful mean?

The suffix –ful means “full of,” “characterized by,” “tending to,” “able to,” or “as much as will fill.” It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms.

The suffix –ful comes from Old English –full, meaning “full.” The Latin equivalent of –ful is –ōsus, meaning “full of,” which has become the English adjectival suffixes –ose, as in jocose, and –ous, as in glorious. To learn more, check out all four entries.

Examples of -ful

An example of a word you may have encountered that features –ful is beautiful, “having beauty.”

The beauti– part of the word means “beauty,” as in a quality that gives pleasure. The –ful part of the word means “full of,” as we have seen. Beautiful literally translates to “full of beauty.”

What are some words that use the equivalents of the combining form –ful in Middle or Old English?

• careful
• harmful
• shameful
• spoonful
• thoughtful

What are some other forms that –ful may be commonly confused with?

• -fuge
• -fy

Break it down!

Given the meaning of –ful, what does shameful literally mean?