painful

The word "painful" combines "pain," derived from Old French peine (meaning "suffering" or "punishment"), and the suffix "-ful," from Old English -full (meaning "full of"). "Pain" traces back to Latin poena (penalty or torment), reflecting its historical association with punishment. Over time, "pain" broadened to encompass physical and emotional suffering, while "-ful" transformed into a productive suffix for adjectives. Together, they logically form "full of suffering," capturing the word’s core meaning.