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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

Trump then flew to the UK en route to the US, where he reboarded the old Air Force One and was seen descending from the aircraft after it landed at RAF Mildenhall.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

I was imagining what it would be like to be her, so perfectly balanced en pointe, the embodiment of feminine beauty and grace.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump first got interested in Albania while on a yacht trip through the Mediterranean after Trump’s first term, dropping anchor en route between Montenegro and Greece.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 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

The Peruvian government’s clinics and doctors, who had never warmed to Socios en Salud, began characterizing the organization as a group of interfering outsiders.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

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

Indeed, between ourselves, she is the grand object of the gala; all her friends will come EN MASSE, and one should wish that they should see things in proper style.

From The Absentee by Maria Edgeworth

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 week concluded with a particularly pleasant chore: mingling amiably with the 3,500 en- tering freshmen at Liberty University, his proudest creation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Poreda, a handsome, over-confident Pole, came out en- thusiastically for the first round.

From Time Magazine Archive

The forms en- and em- are of French origin.

From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton

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

From The Guardian ● Jul. 13, 2021

From 1803 to 1808, all converts were drawn from twelve places having recognizable names, ending in -an, -en, -in, or -un, characteristic Costanoan word endings.

From The Aboriginal Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California by Sherburne Friend Cook

The accusative ending -en was sometimes extended to the 46 dative, and the dative ending -e to the accusative.

From A Middle High German Primer Third Edition by Joseph Wright

According to the effect.—The syllable -en in the word whiten changes the noun white into a verb.

From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham

I. Those ending in -en; as soften, whiten, strengthen, &c.

From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham