-fold

a native English suffix meaning “of so many parts,” or denoting multiplication by the number indicated by the stem or word to which the suffix is attached:

twofold; manifold.

Origin

Middle English; Old English -fald, -feald, cognate with Old Frisian, Old Saxon -fald, German -falt, Old Norse -faldr, Gothic -falths, all representing the Germanic base of fold¹; akin to Greek -ploos, -plous (see haplo-, diplo-), Latin -plus (see simple, double, etc.), -plex -plex

British Dictionary definitions for -fold

-fold

suffix, suffix

having so many parts, being so many times as much or as many, or multiplied by so much or so many: threefold, three-hundredfold

Word Origin

Old English -fald, -feald

Word Origin and History for -fold

multiplicative suffix, from Old English -feald, related to Old Norse -faldr; German -falt; Gothic falþs; Greek -paltos, -plos; Latin -plus, and to fold (v.). Crowded out in English by Latinate double, triple, etc., but still in manifold, hundredfold, etc.