genügend

Genügend is a German adjective meaning sufficient, adequate, or enough to meet a need. It is closely related to the verb genügen, which means to suffice or to be enough. Genügend carries a sense of sufficiency that is often formal or precise, and it is used where the degree of adequacy is being specified. It can modify nouns in attributive use, as in genügende Zeit (sufficient time) or genügende Beweise (sufficient evidence), and it can appear predicatively in phrases like Es ist genügend (There is enough).

In everyday language, genügen and genügend are common, but speakers frequently prefer synonyms such as genug for everyday quantities or ausreichend in more formal, official, or evaluative contexts. Genügend tends to appear in written language, legal or administrative texts, and in more measured or technical discourse.

In German‑language education, genügend also appears as a formal grade in some systems. In Austria, for example, Genügend is an official grade on a five‑point scale and indicates a passing result; the exact mapping of numbers to terms can vary by school and region. In Germany, the term genügend is less commonly used as a formal grade and is more often replaced by ausreichend or other standard terms, depending on the regional educational framework. The usage as a grading label highlights a close link between language and educational practices in German‑speaking contexts.

Etymology traces genügend to the verb genügen, meaning to suffice, with the adjective form expressing that something meets a required standard. The noun form Genügend, used rarely, denotes the state of sufficiency and is capitalized when used as a noun.