Etymology: The formative of the past participle of weak verbs, in Old English < a vowel representing (though not with uniform consistency) the thematic suffix characteristic of the class to which the verb belongs + the participial suffix -d , inherited from Germanic < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek -τός , suffix forming verbal adjectives, and classical Latin -tus , past participial ending. In some Old English verbs the suffix is added immediately to the root-syllable, and therefore appears without preceding vowel as -d , or after a voiceless consonant as -t ; e.g. in seald sold adj. < sęllan sell v., boht bought adj., < bycgan buy v. In Middle English the several vowelled forms of the suffix (where they were not contracted) were levelled to -ed (-id, -yd), and this -ed is in most cases still retained in writing, although the pronunciation is now normally vowelless (d), or after voiceless consonant (t), as in robedBrit. /rəʊbd/, U.S. /roʊbd/, hoped Brit. /həʊpt/, U.S. /hoʊpt/. The full pronunciation /ɪd/ regularly occurs in ordinary speech only in the endings -ted, -ded; but it is frequently required by the metre of verse, and is still often used in the public reading of the Bible and the Liturgy. A few words, such as blessed, cursed, beloved, which are familiar chiefly in religious use, have escaped the general tendency to contraction when used as adjectives; and the adjectival use of learned is distinguished by its pronunciation Brit. /ˈləːnᵻd/, U.S. /ˈlərnəd/ from its use as simple participle Brit. /ləːnd/, U.S. /lərnd/. A number of other words have been recorded in the late 20th cent. as showing variable pronunciations, reflecting the influence of derivative adverbs in -edly or nouns in -edness. From 16th to 18th centuries the suffix, when following a voiceless consonant (preceded by a consonant or a short vowel), was often written -t, in accordance with the pronunciation, as in jumpt, whipt, stept. This is still practised by some writers, but is not now in general use. Where, however, a long vowel in the verb-stem is shortened in the participle, as in crept, slept, the spelling with -t is universal. Some participles have a twofold spelling, according as the vowel is shortened or not in pronunciation; e.g. leapt Brit. /lɛpt/, U.S. /lɛpt/, and leaped Brit. /liːpt/, U.S. /lipt/.In several other classes of instances the -ed of early Middle English has undergone subsequent contraction (in the inflected forms, however, this process had already begun in Old English): e.g. the endings -ded , -ted became -d(d , -t(t , as in bled(d , modern bled , for Old English bléded (see bleed v.), set(t , modern set , for Old English sęted (see set v.¹); after l, n, r, the ending -ded has often become -t, as in gilt, sent, girt; and in certain cases l, m, n at the end of a verb-stem cause the suffix -ed to become -t, as in spilt, unkempt, burnt. These contractions occur only in the older words of the language, and many of the words in which they are found have parallel forms without contraction, in most cases with some difference of meaning or use. The Scottish form of -ed is -it, with which compare such early Middle English forms as i-nempnet named, i-crunet crowned, though these belong chiefly to extreme southern dialects.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon -ôdi (not represented elsewhere in Germanic, though Old Norse had adjectives similarly < nouns, with participial form and i- umlaut, as eygðr eyed, hynrdr horned); appended to nouns in order to form adjectives connoting the possession or the presence of the attribute or thing expressed by the noun. The function of the suffix is thus identical with that of the Latin past participial suffix -tus as used in caudātus tailed, aurītus eared, etc.; and it is possible that the Germanic base may originally have been related to that of -ed suffix¹, the suffix of past participles of verbs formed upon nouns.In pronunciation this suffix follows the same rules as -ed suffix¹.