Etymology

suffering

suf·fer·ing
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Today it means: Experiencing pain; characterized by suffering. Full definition →

English suffer ← Middle English suffren ← Old French suffrir
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  7. Proto-Italic*ferō
  8. Latinferō
  9. Latinsuffero
  10. Latinsufferre
  11. Vulgar Latin*sufferīre
  12. Old Frenchsuffrir
  13. Middle Englishsuffren
  14. Englishsuffer
  15. English todaysuffering

By surface analysis, suffer + -ing. Mostly displaced English bale (“suffering, woe, torment”) and English woe.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.