| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024-ful, suffix. - Pronouns
- -ful is attached to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning "full of;
characterized by'':beauty + -ful → beautiful (= full of beauty);care + -ful → careful (= characterized by care). - -ful is attached to verbs to form adjectives with the meaning "tending to;
able to'':harm + -ful → harmful (= tending to harm);wake + -ful→ wakeful (= tending to stay awake). - -ful is attached to nouns to form nouns with the meaning "as much as will fill'':spoon + -ful → spoonful (= as much as will fill a spoon);cup + -ful → cupful (= as much as will fill a cup).
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024Ful (fŏŏl),USA pronunciation n., pl. Fuls, (esp. collectively) Ful. - Language VarietiesFulani.
-ful, - Pronounsa suffix meaning "full of,'' "characterized by'' (shameful;
beautiful;
careful;
thoughtful);
"tending to,'' "able to'' (wakeful;
harmful);
"as much as will fill'' (spoonful).
- Middle English, Old English -full, -ful, representing full, ful full1
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. Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: -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
Etymology: Old English -ful, -full, from full1Where 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 |