overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

suffer.

To undergo hardship.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈsʌfə/UK/ˈsʌfɚ/US
  1. To undergo hardship.

    intransitive
    Many artists suffer before becoming famous.
  2. To feel pain.

    intransitive
    At least he didn't suffer when he died in the car crash.
  3. To become worse.

    intransitive
    If you keep partying like this, your school-work will suffer.
  4. To endure, undergo.

    transitive
    I've been suffering your insults for years.
    We hope you never have to suffer the same pain.
  5. To allow.

    archaic · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Italic *ferō Latin ferō Latin suffero Latin sufferre Vulgar Latin *sufferīre Old French suffrirbor. Middle English suffren English suffer From Middle English suffren, from Anglo-Norman suffrir, from Latin sufferre (“to offer, hold up, bear, suffer”), from sub- (“up, under”) + ferō (“to carry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). Displaced native Old English þrōwian.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

suffer has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

suffer studiosuffer workshello, suffer

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.