comfortableness

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English comfortable

Proto-Germanic *-in-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti

Proto-Germanic *-ōną

Proto-Germanic *-inōną

Proto-Indo-European *-dyé-

Proto-Germanic *-atjaną

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Germanic *-þuz

Proto-Germanic *-assuz

Proto-Germanic *-inassuz

Proto-West Germanic *-nassī

Old English -nes

Middle English -nesse

English -ness

English comfortableness

From comfortable + -ness.

Noun

comfortableness (usually uncountable, plural comfortablenesses)

1. Comfort: the quality or state of being comfortable.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     I was only alive to the condensed confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real friend.

   • 1997 November 10, David Brooks, “THE SHOES MAKE THE MAN”, in Washington Examiner‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 December 2024:

     At that moment his sneakers feel horribly, horribly overcomfortable. Maybe you’ve experienced this sensation. You’re riding on a commuter train, and all around you people are in business suits. In this context, your casual clothes feel ridiculously soft and easy. You might as well be wearing pajamas. The comfortableness hangs on you like a cloying hug.