basketful
Meaning
The amount that a basket can hold.
Structure
Usage
She picked a basketful of wild strawberries from the field.
The recipe calls for a basketful of fresh mushrooms.
He carried a basketful of laundry down to the basement.
Etymology
The word is a transparent compound formed within English. The first element, "basket," entered Middle English from Anglo-Norman French, its ultimate origin uncertain but possibly related to Latin bascauda for a basin. The second element is the native English suffix "-ful," descended from the Old English adjective full, meaning "full." This suffix was productively attached to nouns for containers to create measure words, such as "handful," "spoonful," and "basketful." Thus, "basketful" literally means "the quantity that makes a basket full," a logical and enduring method for expressing a loose, container-based unit of measure.
Analysis
- basket: Origin: Middle English, from Anglo-Norman French. Functional role: The core noun, denoting the container. - ful: Origin: Old English full, meaning "full". Functional role: A suffix forming nouns denoting the amount that fills the specified container.