Among Romance adjectives the want of inflexion is more frequent in proportion to the whole number of instances, e.g. ‘the vein honour,’ Prol. 221, ‘the fals emperour,’ Prol. 739, ‘Hire clos Envie,’ ii. 684, &c.
In the case of adjectives of more than one syllable, whether English or French, the definite form is exceptional. The commonest case is that of superlatives, in which the definite form -este is regularly used when the accent falls on the termination, whether in rhyme or otherwise, as faireste, i. 767, v. 7427, slyheste, i. 1442, wiseste: myhtieste, i. 1097 f., wofulleste, vii. 5017. Even when the accent is thrown back, the definite inflexion is more usually given than not, as faireste, i. 1804, hoteste, i. 2492, treweste, ii. 1282, povereste, iv. 2238, heyeste, vii. 935, but sometimes dropped, as ‘the purest Eir,’ Prol. 921, ‘the ȝongest of hem,’ i. 3133, ‘the lowest of hem alle,’ vii. 224: in all cases, however, where the accent is thrown back, the adjective is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, so that the metre is not affected.
Other adjectives of which the termination is capable of accent may take the definite inflexion, when the accent is thrown on the termination, as ‘the covoitouse flaterie,’ ‘this lecherouse pride,’ this tyrannysshe knyht,’ but on the other hand ‘his fals pitous lokynge,’ ‘the pietous Justinian,’ ‘the proude tyrannyssh Romein,’ and cases where the adjective is used as a substantive, ‘the coveitous’, ‘This Envious,’ ‘thaverous,’ &c. We have ‘the parfite medicine,’ iv. 2624 (but ‘the parfit Elixir,’ iv. 2522, with accent thrown back), and ‘O thou gentile Venus,’ viii. 2294; but perhaps parfite, gentile are to be regarded as feminine forms, as almost certainly devolte, i. 636.
Where the final syllable of the adjective is incapable of accent, there is ordinarily no question of a definite inflexion, except where there is syncope after v (u), as in evele. Such words are croked, wicked, cruel, litel, middel, biter, dedly, lusti, sinful(l), wilful, woful(l), wrongful, and we may note that comparatives in -ere and adjectives in -liche (with accent thrown back) sometimes appear in the truncated form of spelling even where a definite termination is suggested by their position, e.g. ‘hire ȝonger Soster,’ v. 5395, ‘hir goodlych yhe,’ ii. 2026, ‘Ha, thou ungoodlich ypocrite,’ v. 6293, ‘hire dedlich yhe,’ vii. 5089 (-lich in these latter cases to avoid the hiatus of ‘ungoodly ypocrite,’ &c.). As an exceptional instance the form nakede should be observed, ‘his nakede arm,’ iv. 421, given so both by F and S.
The formation of plurals in adjectives and participles used attributively is governed by the same principles. We have ‘preciouse Stones,’ iv. 1354, but ‘the most principal’(pl.), v. 1115. In the expression ‘the chief flodes,’ v. 1112, chief must be considered perhaps as a substantive, like hed in ‘the hed planete.’ Naturally words like wicked, woful, lusti, &c., take no plural inflexion, but we have manye (manie) beside many apparently as a plural form, though manye also occurs in the singular, and enye once as plural of eny. In the expression ‘som men’ som is without inflexion in the plural, e.g. Prol. 529, iii. 2113, but ‘somme clerkes,’ Prol. 355, ‘some thinges,’ i. 1265.
Adjectives used as predicates or in apposition are to some extent treated according to convenience of metre or rhyme, but in the case of monosyllables there is a decided preference for inflexion. The following are some of the instances: ‘Whan we ben dede,’ Prol. 2, ‘hem that weren goode,’ 42, ‘my wittes ben to smale,’ 81, ‘Ther ben of suche manie glade,’ 299, ‘become grete,’ 303, ‘ben with mannes senne wrothe,’ 920, so blinde, i. 774, smale, 1145, glade, 1151, hyhe, smale, i. 1678 f., hore and whyte, i. 2045, stronge, iii. 1112, dulle, iv. 947, whyte, fatte, grete, iv. 1310, &c. We have also ‘hise thoghtes feinte,’ iv. 118, ‘thinges ... veine,’ i. 2689, ‘hise bedes most devoute,’ i. 669, ‘in wordes so coverte,’ iv. 1606, wher the men ben coveitouse, v. 4800.
On the other hand, ‘Of hem that ben so derk withinne,’ i. 1077, ‘Hire chekes ben with teres wet,’ i. 1680, ‘Thei wexen doumb,’ iv. 345, ‘Here bodies weren long and smal,’ iv. 1320, ‘Thei weren gracious and wys,’ vii. 1447, ‘thei weren glad,’ viii. 881, and so frequently.
The participle used as predicate is ordinarily uninflected, but there are a few examples of a plural form adopted for the rhyme, as made, Prol. 300, ansuerde, i. 3246, iv. 2343, hidde, v. 6789.
The usage of al, alle as an adjective is in some ways peculiar, but tolerably consistent. In the singular before an article, a demonstrative pronoun or a possessive, the uninflected form al (occasionally all) is used, as ‘al the baronie,’ ‘al the world,’ ‘al his welthe,’ ‘all his proude fare,’ ‘al a mannes strengthe’ (also ‘the Cite all,’ ii. 3473), but before a substantive the form alle (dissyllable)[W], as ‘alle grace,’ ‘alle thing,’ ‘alle untrouthe,’ ‘alle vertu,’ ‘in alle wise,’ ‘in alle haste,’ ‘alle wel,’ ‘alle charite,’ but sometimes before vowels al, as ‘al honour,’ i. 879, ‘al Erthe,’ i. 2825, ‘al Envie,’ ii. 168, ‘al untrowthe,’ ii. 1684. In the plural, ‘al the,’ ‘all these,’ ‘alle the,’ &c. (‘alle’ being counted as a monosyllable), and without the article, ‘alle’ (but ‘al othre,’ iv. 1532).
Note also the adverbial expression ‘in none wise,’ cp. ‘othre wise.’ In cases of the combination of a French adjective with a feminine substantive of the same origin the adjective occasionally takes the French feminine form. Instances are as follows: ‘devolte apparantie,’ i. 636, ‘veine gloire,’ i. 2677 ff., ‘vertu sovereine,’ ii. 3507, ‘seinte charite,’ iv. 964, ‘herbe sovereine,’ vii. 1392, ‘joie sovereine,’ viii. 2530, and even as predicate, ‘Dame Avarice is noght soleine,’ v. 1971. Possibly also, ‘O thou divine pourveance,’ ii. 3243, ‘the parfite medicine,’ iv. 2624, ‘a gentile ... on,’ v. 2713, and ‘O thou gentile Venus,’ viii. 2294, may be examples of the same usage.