satisfactory
/ˌsætɪsˈfæktəri/adjective
Adequate or pleasing enough to meet requirements
From Latin satis (enough) + Latin facere (to do).
Lineage
The story
At first, “satisfactory” had a surprisingly solemn job: in the mid-15th century it meant something capable of atoning for sin. Its Latin engine was satisfacere, literally “do enough,” built from satis (“enough”) and facere (“to do”). The same facere family gives us factory and manufacture, while satis turns up in satiate—so a word now used for a passable report card once carried the weight of making amends. By the 1630s, the adjective had broadened to mean adequate for the demands of a case; by the 1660s, it could also mean genuinely gratifying. Think of it as a small linguistic upgrade from “enough to answer for your sins” to “good enough to get the job done.”
Words from the same roots
satis · Latin, ‘enough, sufficiently’
Derivedsatisfy, satisfaction, satiate, satiable
facere · Latin, ‘to do, make’
Derivedmanufacture, facile, factory, effect
Sources
- Etymonlinesatisfactory, commodious, hunky-dory, decent, well
- Urban Dictionarysatisfactory
- Wikipediasatisfactory
- Wiktionarysatisfactory