-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
usage note for -ful
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.
Words nearby -ful
British Dictionary definitions for -ful
-ful
suffix
(forming adjectives)
full of or characterized by
painful; spiteful; restful
(forming adjectives)
able or tending to
helpful; useful
(forming nouns)
indicating as much as will fill the thing specified
mouthful; spoonful
Word Origin for -ful
Old English
-ful, -full, from
full
1
usage for -ful
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