-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 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