Suff

German

Alternative forms

• Soff (obsolete)

Etymology

Secondary ablaut formation (16th or 17th c.) from saufen (“to drink, swig”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zʊf/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Suff m (strong, genitive Suffs or Suffes, no plural) (informal)

1. drinking, alcoholism

   Der Suff hat ihn kaputt gemacht.

   His excessive drinking destroyed him.

2. (with in) drunkenness

   Er hat im Suff Streit angefangen.

   He started an argument with someone while drunk.

3. (obsolete) draft, pull (of a drink)
4. (obsolete) drink

Declension

Declension of Suff [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Suff
genitive	eines	des	Suffs, Suffes
dative	einem	dem	Suff, Suffe1
accusative	einen	den	Suff

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Suffkopp

Related terms

• Gesöff

References

• Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Suff”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
• “Suff” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

Further reading

• “Suff” in Duden online
• “Suff”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)