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enow

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An old form of “enough”—used metrically or stylistically in poetry to maintain rhythm or archaic tone.

Detailed Definition
“Enow” appears in Early Modern poetry to satisfy meter or archaic tone, especially in rhymes (“now/enow”). It conveys sufficiency, often with resignation or contentment. Though functionally identical to “enough,” its form preserves period authenticity in historical or biblical verse. Poets use it to signal acceptance—of fate, love, or death—in compact, rhythmic phrasing.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Is there enow of courage left?" challenges the leader; In Chaucer: "And if that he enow had of good cheer"; "Enow of sorrow, let joy now reign"; Shakespeare uses "enow" in early plays: "Enow, enow, we have been enow abused"; "Give me enow of truth, and I’ll forego all else"; Enow of night—let dawn arise.
Additional Notes
“Enow” is the archaic plural or emphatic form of “enough”; used for metrical convenience or rustic tone, it appears in ballads and folk-inspired verse to signal sufficiency or abundance in plain speech.
Also Known As
enough (archaic form)
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