-ed

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

-ed2 repr. OE. -ede = OS. -ōdi :- Gmc. *-ōǒja-, and appended to sbs. to form adjs. denoting the possession or the presence of the thing or attribute expressed by the sb., e.g. OE. hōcede hooked (f. hōc), hringede ringed (f. hring). This suffix corresponds in function to the -tus of L. formations like caudātus tailed (f. cauda tail), aurītus eared (f. auris ear); it is now added without restriction to a sb. to form an adj. with the sense ‘provided with, characterized by’ (something), as in booted, cultured, diseased, moneyed, wooded, and notably in parasynthetic adjs., as dark-eyed, three-pronged.

In mod. Eng. and to a large extent in ME. there is no formal distinction between exx. of this suffix and ppl. adjs. in -ED1 derived ult. from sbs. through unrecorded vbs.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

T. F. HOAD. "-ed." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "-ed." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-ed1.html

T. F. HOAD. "-ed." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-ed1.html

Learn more about citation styles