-ness

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See also nes, ness, Nes, NES, and Ness

[edit] English

Middle English, from Old English -nis, -nes (“-ness”), from Proto-Germanic *-nassuz (“-ness”), alteration (by false division) of -n- (adjective and verbal terminating consonant) + Proto-Germanic *-assuz (“-ness”). Akin to Old Saxon -nissi, -nussi (Dutch -nis), Old High German -nissa, -nassi, -nussi (German -nis), Gothic -inasus, -inassus

-ness

Appended to adjectives to form nouns meaning "the state of (the adjective)", "the quality of (the adjective)", or "the measure of (the adjective)".

calmness ← calm

darkness ← dark

kindness ← kind

oneness ← one
Appended to words of other parts of speech to form nouns (often nonce words or terms in philosophy) meaning the state/quality/measure of the idea represented by these words.

thatness ← that

treeness ← tree

appended to adjectives to form nouns meaning "the state of ...", "the quality of ...", or "the measure of ..."

Arabic: ـية (ar) (-íyya), (several internal vowel patterns are used)
Armenian: -ություն (hy) (-ut’yun)
Chinese:

Mandarin: (no exact term exists, many adjectives may be used as nouns), -性 (cmn) (-xìng)
Czech: -ost (cs) f.
Dutch: -heid (nl)
Faroese: -semi (fo) f. and n., -heit (fo) f.
Finnish: -us (fi), -ys (fi)
French: -ité (fr)
German: -nis (de), -heit (de), -keit (de)
Hungarian: -ság/-ség