-ness

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

English

Alternative forms

• ⠰⠎

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nəs/
• (US) IPA: [nɪ̈s]

Suffix

-ness

1. 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

2. 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

Usage notes

If adjective ends in -y, then this changes to -i- when -ness is suffixed. This occurs both when the -y is the suffix -y (“having the quality of”), as in mess → messy → messiness (hence -y → -i-), but also in other cases, as in comely → comeliness.

Synonyms

• -hood
• -ship
• -itas
• -itude
• -th
• -ia
• -itia
• -ity
• -ability
• -ibility
• -icity
• -osity

Derived terms

• Category:English words suffixed with -ness

Translations

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), -schap (nl), -nis (nl)
• Faroese: -semi (fo) f and n, -heit (fo) f
• Finnish: -us (fi), -ys (fi)
• French: -ité (fr), -esse (fr) f
• German: -nis (de), -heit (de), -keit (de)
• Hungarian: -ság/-ség
• Irish: -acht (ga) f
• Italian: -ità (it), -ezza (it)

• Japanese: -さ (ja) (-sa), (0 ending on -な adjectives)
• Manx: -aght (gv) f
• Marathi: -पणा (mr) (-paṇā) m
• Norwegian: -het (no)
• Old English: -nes (ang), -nis (ang)
• Old Saxon: -nissi, -nussi
• Polish: -ość
• Russian: -ность (ru) (-nost'), -ость (ru) (-ost'), -ство (ru) (-stvo)
• Slovak: -osť (sk) f
• Spanish: -idad (es)
• Swahili: u- (sw)
• Swedish: -het (sv)
• Turkish: -lık (tr), -lik (tr), -luk (tr), -lük (tr)
• Welsh: -rwydd (cy)