assez

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French assez, from Old French asez, from Late Latin ad satis, from Latin ad + satis. Cognate with Franco-Provençal asséds, Occitan assatz, Italian assai, Portuguese assaz, and Spanish asaz. Doublet of assai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.se/, (in liaison) /a.se.z‿/

• Audio (Quebec, Montreal):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Rhymes: -e

Adverb

assez

1. to a sufficient or moderate degree; enough; sufficiently

   Ce livre est assez intéressant pour que je veuille lire la suite.

   This book is interesting enough for me to want to read the rest.

   Il est incontestable que je suis assez bouché de croire ça.

   It's incontestable that I'm already dumb enough to believe that.

   Elle est assez fatiguée aujourd’hui.

   She is quite tired today.

   • 2018, Zaz, On s'en remet jamais:

     T'as mis la barre assez haut.

     You set the bar pretty high.

Usage notes

• When modifying a noun, assez often requires de to express quantity: assez de temps ― enough time.
• Assez vastly corresponds to quite, rather, pretty or fairly in English, depending on context. This means that with some adjectives (chiefly extreme or absolute ones), it may function as an intensifier rather than indicating sufficiency.

Derived terms

• en avoir assez
• en avoir plus qu'assez

Related terms

• insatiable
• rassasier
• saoul
• satiété
• satisfaction
• saturer

Further reading

• “assez”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French assez.

Adverb

assez

1. enough; sufficiently

Descendants

• French: assez

Old French

Adverb

assez

1. alternative form of asez