-full
English
Suffix
-full
Usage notes
- In current usage, only standard for forming nouns (e.g., cheerfull is now a misspelling).
- For nouns, both forms have historically been considered acceptable; e.g., Weld’s Progressive English Grammar provides both spoonful and bowl-full as examples.[1] Now usually hyphenated (e.g., bowl-full instead of bowlfull), though both the spelling -ful and spaced compounds with full are more common (e.g., bowl full); however, the plural is rarely formed by suffixing -s instead of pluralizing the noun when spaced (e.g., bowl fulls versus bowls full), unlike with -full (bowl-fulls/bowlfulls or bowls-full/bowlsfull) and may be considered nonstandard.
References
- ^ Allen H[ayden] Weld (1859) “The Noun”, in George Payn Quackenbos, editor, Weld’s Progressive English Grammar, Illustrated with Copious Exercises in Analysis, Parsing, and Composition, Adapted to Schools and Academies of Every Grade, Portland, Me.: […] O. L. Sanborn & Company; Boston, Mass.: Chase & Nichols; Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co, part II (Words), page 44: “Nouns ending in ful and full, and compounds in which the principal word stands last, annex s or es, to form their plural; as, spoonful, spoonfuls; bowl-full, bowl-fulls; man-trap, man-traps; step-son, step-sons.”
Middle English
Suffix
-full
- alternative form of -ful (“-ful”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
See also
Norwegian Bokmål terms suffixed with -full
- “-full” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
See also
Norwegian Nynorsk terms suffixed with -full
- “-full” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /full/, [fuɫ]
Suffix
-full
- alternative form of -ful
Declension
Declension of -full — Strong
| Singular | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -full | -full | -full |
| Accusative | -fulne | -fulle | -full |
| Genitive | -fulles | -fulre | -fulles |
| Dative | -fullum | -fulre | -fullum |
| Instrumental | -fulle | -fulre | -fulle |
| Plural | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
| Nominative | -fulle | -fulla, -fulle | -full |
| Accusative | -fulle | -fulla, -fulle | -full |
| Genitive | -fulra | -fulra | -fulra |
| Dative | -fullum | -fullum | -fullum |
| Instrumental | -fullum | -fullum | -fullum |
Declension of -full — Weak
Swedish
Suffix
-full
- equivalent to -ful
Derived terms
Swedish terms suffixed with -full