ful

Clipping of English Fula or Fula Fulfulde.

ful

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Fula.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Fula terms

Borrowed from Fula 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤬𞤵𞤤𞤣𞤫.

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

ful (invariable)

1. (relational) of Fula

ful m (uncountable)

1. Fula

• fulbe

From Old Danish fuul, from Old Norse fúll, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz. Cognate with Swedish ful, English foul, German faul, Dutch vuil.

• IPA^(key): /fuːˀl/, [ˈfuˀl]
• Homophone: fugl

ful (neuter fult, plural and definite singular attributive fule)

1. (dated) nasty, ugly

   Synonym: styg

• “ful” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “ful” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Borrowed from Marathi फूल (phūl).

ful

1. flower

• Clements, J. Clancy (1996), The Genesis of a Language: The Formation and Development of Korlai Portuguese, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 71

From Arabic فُول (fūl).

• IPA^(key): /fuːl/
• Rhymes: -uːl

ful m (collective, singulative fula, paucal fuliet)

1. broad bean, broad beans

From Old English full, from Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós.

• fol, full, vol, vul

ful

1. very; much; to a great extent
   • 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41:

     And I seide, "Ser, in his tyme maister Ioon Wiclef was holden of ful many men the grettis clerk that thei knewen lyuynge vpon erthe. And therwith he was named, as I gesse worthili, a passing reuli man and an innocent in al his lyuynge. […]

     And I said, "Sir, in his time master John Wycliffe was held by very many men the greatest clerk that they knew living upon earth. And with this he was named, as I believe worthily, an excellent ruly and innocent man in all his living. […]

2. full
   • ca. 1384, John Wycliffe, Wycliffe Bible (translation from the Vulgate), Genesis 25:8

     and failynge he was deed in a good elde, and of greet age, and ful of dayes, and he was gaderyd to his puple.

     and failing he was dead in a good old [age], and of great age, and full of days, and he was gathered to his people.

• English: full
• Scots: fou, full
• Yola: vull

• “ful, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

ful

1. (chiefly Early Middle English) alternative form of foul (“foul”)

ful

1. alternative form of fulle

From Old Norse fúll, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz.

• IPA^(key): /fʉːl/
• Rhymes: -ʉːl
• Homophone: fugl

ful (masculine and feminine ful, neuter fult, definite singular and plural fule, comparative fulere, indefinite superlative fulest, definite superlative fuleste)

1. clever, sly

• “ful” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “ful” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Old Norse fúll, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz.

ful (neuter fult, definite singular and plural fule, comparative fulare, indefinite superlative fulast, definite superlative fulaste)

1. clever, sly

• “ful” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-West Germanic *full.

• IPA^(key): /ful/

ful

1. alternative form of full

From Proto-West Germanic *fūl.

• IPA^(key): /fuːl/

fūl

1. foul (dirty, stinking, vile, corrupt)
   • Exeter Book, riddle 40

     iċ eom wyrslīcre þonne þēs wudu fūla
     oððe þis wāroð þe hēr āworpen liġeð.

     I am viler than this foul wood
     or this seaweed that lies here, cast up

• fūlnes

• Middle English: foul, ffoul, foull, fowel, fuyle, ful, vul (mainly Early Middle English), ffoule, foule, fowl, fowle, foyll (Late Middle English), voul (Kent, Southwest Midland)
  • English: foul
  • Middle Scots: foull, fowle
    • Scots: foul

Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *full

ful

1. very, well
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Agnes, Virgin"

     ...and ful leof þam casere for his micclan sige þeah þe he nære gefullod .

     ...and very dear to the emperor for his great victory, though he was not baptized.

From Proto-West Germanic *full.

ful

1. full

• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: fol

• West Frisian: fol

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸul/

·ful

1. third-person singular present subjunctive prototonic of fo·loing

• connach·ḟul

• full

From Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós.

ful

1. full

• fullian

• Low German: vull

ful

1. foul, rotten, putrid
2. lazy, shiftless, indolent, slothful

• IPA^(key): /ˈful/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ul
• Syllabification: ful

Borrowed from English full. Doublet of pełny and plenum.

• full

ful (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (colloquial) full

ful m inan

1. (poker) full house
2. (colloquial) stout, porter (beer with mid-high hop and alcohol levels)
3. (colloquial) full house (situation in which a place is filled with people to its maximum capacity)

   Synonym: komplet

ful

1. (colloquial) full

Borrowed from Arabic فُول (fūl).

ful m inan

1. type of heavily spiced Egyptian fava bean paste (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)

• ful in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ful in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from English full.

ful n (plural fuluri)

1. (poker) full house

• IPA^(key): /fʊl/
• Hyphenation: ful
• Rhymes: -ʊl

From Old Frisian full, from Proto-West Germanic *full. Cognates include West Frisian fol and German voll.

ful (masculine fullen, feminine, plural or definite fulle, comparative fuller, superlative fulst)

1. full

• (antonym(s) of “full”): loos

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ful

1. Unstressed form of fúul

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “ful”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN
• Marron C. Fort (2015), “fúul”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

Of Germanic origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈful/ [ˈful]
• Rhymes: -ul
• Syllabification: ful

ful (invariable)

1. (slang) cheap, fake

• “ful”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “ful”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

From Old Norse fúll, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz. Compare English foul, Dutch vuil, German faul.

• (Sweden) IPA^(key): /fʉːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʉːl

ful (comparative fulare, superlative fulast)

2. ugly (of displeasing appearance)

   Antonym: fin

   • 1994, “Älska mig [Love Me]”, in Sanningens morgon [The Morning of Truth]‎^[1], performed by Köttgrottorna:

     Jag blir äldre och mindre attraktiv. Rent ut sagt fulare. Åren går så fort att jag har svårt att följa med. Jag byter punkfrisyr mot munkfrisyr och ansiktet det skrynklar ihop sig, men mina egocentriska behov, de kvarstår år efter år.

     I'm getting older and less attractive. Uglier, to put it bluntly. The years go by so fast that I have a hard time keeping up. I exchange punk hairdo for monk hairdo and my face [it – redundant] crumples up, but my egocentric needs, they remain year after year.

   Det var den fulaste unge jag någonsin sett

   That's the ugliest kid I've ever seen

   en ful melodi

   an ugly melody

   Could also be interpreted as "a dirty melody," using (sense 2).

4. dirty, bad (contradictory to norms or rules)

   ett fult knep

   a dirty trick

   Larsson gjorde en riktigt ful tackling

   Larsson pulled off a really dirty tackle

   ett fult ord

   a bad word

5. prefix indicating a state of low or lesser quality: an ironic opposite of fin (“fine, elegant”).
   • 2000, Mikael Niemi, Populärmusik från Vittula p. 35; English translation by Laurie Thompson: Popular Music from Vittula (2003), p. 36.

     Hukande tassade han fram till predikstolen, en skygg liten gosse med fulsnaggat hår.

     Shoulders hunched, he tip-toed toward the pulpit, a bashful little boy with an awful haircut.

English foul is a false friend, though cognate. Matches ugly (sense 1) and dirty/bad (sense 2) in meaning and strength.

• fin
• snygg (“good-looking; handsome”)

• ful in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ful in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ful in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• Ulf, ulf

From English fool.

ful

1. fool

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish فل (ful, “sweet mock orange”), from Arabic فِلّ (fill, “Arabian jasmine”).

ful (definite accusative fulü, plural fuller)

1. sweet mock orange, any flowering plant of the species Philadelphus coronarius, native to Caucasus
2. Arabian jasmine, any vine of the species Jasminum sambac, whose fragrance is used for perfume

• “ful”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “ful”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “ful2”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 2, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1617

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish فول (ful), from Arabic فُول (fūl, “fava bean”).

ful (definite accusative fulü, plural fuller)

1. broad bean, any edible bean of the species Vicia faba, widely cultivated as a crop

   Synonym: bakla

• “ful”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “ful”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “ful1”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 2, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1617
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “ful2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Borrowed from English full.

ful (definite accusative fulu, plural fullar)

1. (poker) full house, a hand that consists of three of a kind and a pair

• “ful”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “ful”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “ful3”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 2, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1617

ful (genitive fula, plural fuls)

1. fullness