-en
/ən/
-en suffix: denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb.
Suffix (1)
-en
- Denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb.
- take + -en → taken
- forgive + -en → forgiven
- Denotes a quasi-past participle or participle-like adjective when attached to a noun or verb.
- fork + -en → forken (“forked”)
- pave + -en → paven (“paved”)
Suffix (2)
-en
- Used to denote the plural form of a small number of English nouns, the majority of whose etymologies go back to the n-stem (i.e. weak noun) declension of Germanic languages.
- aurochs + -en → aurochsen
- brother + -en → brethren (religious sense)
- child + -en → children (cf. childer)
- ox + -en → oxenExamples in general modern use
- Used to form the plural of nouns.
- box + -en → boxen
- VAX + -en → VAXen
Suffix (3)
-en (verb-forming suffix, third-person singular simple present -ens, present participle -ening, simple past and past participle -ened)
- When attached to certain adjectives, it forms a transitive verb whose meaning is, to make (adjective). Usually, the verb is ergative, sometimes not. The same construction could also be done to certain (fewer) nouns, as, strengthen, in which case the verb means roughly, "to give (noun) to", or "to become like (noun)".
- white (adjective) + -en → whiten
- quick + -en → quicken
Suffix (4)
-en (adjective-forming suffix, comparative more -en, superlative most -en)
- Pertaining to, having the qualities of, resembling, or like.
- wolf + -en → wolven
- wolf + -en → wolfen
- When attached to certain nouns that are the names of a material, it forms an adjective whose meaning is, made of (noun).
- wood + -en → wooden
- gold + -en → golden
- wheat + -en → wheaten
- oat + -en → oaten
- silk + -en → silken
- earth + -en → earthen
- flax + -en → flaxen
- lead + -en → leaden
- wool + -en → woollen
- oak + -en → oakenCurrent examples used in a literal and sometimes metaphorical sense
Suffix (5)
-en (noun-forming suffix, plural -ens)
- Used to form the diminutives of certain nouns.
- chick + -en → chicken
- maid + -en → maiden
Suffix (6)
-en (noun-forming suffix, plural -ens)
- Denotes a female form of a few nouns.
- fox + -en → vixen (“female fox”)
- monk + -en → minchen (“nun”) (obsolete)
Suffix (7)
-en
- Used to form the infinitive of verbs.
- The Sonne compell’d, beene Butcher to the Sire;c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- As gentle Shepheard in ſweete euentide, / When ruddy Phebus gins to welke in weſt, / High on an hill, his flocke to vewen wide1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 23, page 9
Suffix (8)
-en
- Used to form the plural present tense of verbs.
- All things perish, whether man or pelf, / Should not escape but from itself;c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
- Hoo'll never do no good at the music, they tellen her up at the school, wi'out hoo practises reg'lar, an' it's unpossible for her to do that wi'out we has a pianney i' the 'ouse.1905 May 13, M. E. Francis, “Mrs Gradwell's Piano”, in Country Life, volume XVII, number 436, Country Life, Limited, page 678
- Used to form the plural past tense of verbs.
- Her name was Agape whoſe children werne / All three as one, the firſt hight Priamond, / The ſecond Dyamond, the youngeſt Triamond.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 32
- Nau, if ony chap ax you wheere yone getten these, yo mun say, yo hadden um fro' t' boggart o' Deerpley Fell. Good-bye, meaustur; and nau, lads, let's to our wark.1860, Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, “The Attack on the Eagle Mill—The Ride to the Rescue”, in Scarsdale, or, Life on the Yorkshire-Lancashire Border, Thirty Years Ago, volume 1, London: Smith...
Suffix (9)
-en
- Indicates the presence of a carbon-carbon double bond.
Forms of -en
| alternative form | -n |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | -ens |
| present participle | -ening |
| past participle | -ened |
| past | -ened |
| comparative | more -en |
| superlative | most -en |
| plural | -ens |
| alternative form (rare) | -in |
Origin of -en
From Middle English -n, -en, past participle ending of strong verbs (compare Middle English take(n), took, taken (“take, took, taken”)), from Old English -en and Old Norse -inn, past participle ending of strong verbs (compare Old Norse taka, tók, tekinn (“take, took, taken”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *-inaz, a variant of *-anaz. In Middle English, the suffix was often weakened to -e or disappeared (compare Southern Middle English do(n), dud(e), ydo (“do, did, done”)), but not in others (compare cume(n), com, ycume (“come, came, come”)), from Proto-Germanic *-anaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-nós.
From Middle English -en, -n, the plural suffix of weak nouns (n-stems), from Old English -an, from Proto-West Germanic *-an m, *-ōn f or n, from Proto-Germanic *-an- m, *-ōn- f or n, from Proto-Indo-European *-on-, o-grade form of the n-stem suffix. Reinforced by the early Middle English dative plural ending -en, from late Old English -an, weakened form of earlier -um.
From Middle English -(e)nen, -(e)nien, from Old English -nian, from Proto-West Germanic *-inōn, from Proto-Germanic *-inōną. Cognate with Saterland Frisian -enje, West Frisian -enje, Danish -ne, Swedish -na, Icelandic -na.
Words formed from -en
Phrases with -en
Questions about -en
- What does -en mean?
- -en means denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb.
- What part of speech is -en?
- -en is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -en?
- -en is pronounced /ən/.
Words near -en in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -en (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--en.wav.
Cite this entry: “-en.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-en. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.