Ful

[foo l]

noun, plural Fuls, (especially collectively) Ful.

-ful

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

Origin of -ful

Middle English, Old English -full, -ful, representing full, ful full¹

Usage 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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ful

Historical Examples of ful

I never got on so well with Ful before, or saw him really sorry.'
The Pillars of the House, Vol. I (of 2)
Charlotte M. Yonge
Have you found the mine yet, father, and is it ful to the brim of gold?
Daddy's Girl
L. T. Meade
Room′er, a lodger; Room′ful, as much or as many as a room will hold.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)
Various
Forget′able, Forget′table; Forget′ful, apt to forget: inattentive.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various
Fright′able, Fright′enable, timid; Fright′ful, terrible: shocking.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various

British Dictionary definitions for ful

-ful

suffix

(forming adjectives) full of or characterized bypainful; spiteful; restful

(forming adjectives) able or tending tohelpful; useful

(forming nouns) indicating as much as will fill the thing specifiedmouthful; spoonful

Word Origin for -ful

Old English -ful, -full, from full 1

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ful

-ful

word-forming element meaning "full of, characterized by," Old English -full, -ful, suffix use of full (adj.).