Meaning

(no longer productive) Denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb..

Definitions by Sense

1. (no longer productive) Denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb.
2. (archaic) Denotes a quasi-past participle or participle-like adjective when attached to a noun or verb.
3. 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.
4. (nonstandard, rare, often dialectal or humorous) Used to form the plural of nouns.
5. 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)".
6. Pertaining to, having the qualities of, resembling, or like.
7. When attached to certain nouns that are the names of a material, it forms an adjective whose meaning is, made of (noun).
8. Used to form the diminutives of certain nouns.

Example Sentences

take + -en → taken

forgive + -en → forgiven

prove + -en → proven

fork + -en → forken (“forked”)

pave + -en → paven (“paved”)

barefoot + -en → bare-footen (“bare-footed”)

enslave + -en → enslaven (“enslaved”)

aurochs + -en → aurochsen brother + -en → brethren (religious sense) child + -en → children (cf. childer) ox + -en → oxen

Word Forms

• -n
• -ens
• -ening
• -ened
• more -en
• most -en
• -in

When Should You Use -en?

Use -en when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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Frequently Asked Questions