- enough
- O.E. genog, a common Gmc. formation (cf. O.N. gnogr, O.Fris. enoch, Goth. ganohs, Ger. genug), from ge- "with, together" (also a participial, collective, intensive, or perfective prefix) + root -nah, from PIE *nak- "reach, attain" (cf. Skt. asnoti "reaches," Hittite ninikzi "lifts, raises," Lith. nesti "to bear, carry," L. nancisci "to obtain"). The most prominent among the surviving examples of O.E. ge-, the equivalent of L. com- and Mod.Ger. ge-, from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with." Understated sense of have had enough "have had too much" was in O.E. (which relied heavily on double negatives and understatement). Colloquial 'nough said is attested from 1839. Archaic enow is from the O.E. pl. adj. and was standard as the plural of enough until late 18c.