late 15c., from Late Latin sufficientia, from Latin sufficiens "adequate" (see sufficient) + -cy. Sufficience is from late 14c.
Entries linking to sufficiency
sufficient adj.
early 14c., from Old French soficient "satisfactory," or directly from Latin sufficientem (nominative sufficiens) "adequate," present participle of sufficere "to supply as a substitute," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + combining form of facere "to make, to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").
-cy
abstract noun suffix of quality or rank, from Latin -cia, -tia, from Greek -kia, -tia, from abstract ending -ia (see -ia) + stem ending -c- or -t-. The native correspondents are -ship, -hood.
self-sufficiency n.
"inherent fitness for all ends and purposes and independence of others," 1620s, originally also an attribute of God (translating Greek autakreia); see self + sufficiency. Of mortals, "ability to supply one's own needs," it is implied by 1580s (compare self-sufficient). Sometimes formerly also "an overweening opinion of one's talent or worth" (1690s).