goodness

English

Etymology

From Middle English goodnesse, godnesse, from Old English gōdnes (“goodness; virtue; kindness”), equivalent to good +‎ -ness. Cognate with Old High German gōtnassī, cōtnassī (“goodness”), Middle High German guotnisse (“goodness”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɡʊdnəs/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

goodness (countable and uncountable, plural goodnesses)

(uncountable) The state or characteristic of being good.
(countable) The good, nutritional, healthy part or content of something.
(uncountable, euphemistic) God.
Thank goodness that the war is over!
(Christianity) The moral qualities which constitute Christian excellence; moral virtue.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Galatians, 5:22:
  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:goodness

Derived terms

my goodness!

Translations

state or characteristic of being good

Albanian: mirësi (sq) f
Aromanian: bunãtati f
Asturian: bondá f
Bulgarian: добрина (bg) f (dobrina), доброта (bg) f (dobrota)
Catalan: bondat (ca) f, bonesa f
Czech: dobrota (cs) f
Dutch: goedheid (nl) f
Esperanto: boneco (eo)
Finnish: hyvyys (fi)
French: bonté (fr) f
Old French: bonté f
Friulian: bontât f
Galician: bondade (gl) f
German: Güte (de) f, Gütigkeit (de) f, (elevated) Herzensgüte (de) f, Tugend (de) f, Integrität (de) f
Greek: καλόσυνη f (kalósyni)
Ancient Greek: ἀγαθότης f (agathótēs)
Ido: boneso (io)

Ingrian: hüvüsse
Italian: bontà (it)
Latin: bonitas
Lithuanian: gerumas
Occitan: bontat f, bonesa f
Old Occitan: bontat f
Portuguese: bondade (pt) f
Romanian: bunătate (ro)
Russian: доброта́ (ru) f (dobrotá)
Scots: guidness
Spanish: bondad (es) f
Swahili: uzuri (sw)
Swedish: godhet (sv)
Telugu: మంచితనము (te) (mañcitanamu)
Turkish: iyilik (tr)
Votic: üvüz

good part or content of something

Finnish: hyvä (fi)

euphemistically: God

French: bonté divine (fr), corbleu (fr), crebleu (fr), jarnibleu (fr), jarnicoton (fr), maugrebleu (fr), maugrébleu (fr), morbleu (fr), morguienne (fr), nom de Zeus (fr), nom d’un chien (fr), nom d’un petit bonhomme (fr), nom d’une pipe (fr), palsambleu (fr), parbleu (fr), par Jupiter (fr), par Toutatis (fr), rogntudju (fr), sacrebleu (fr), sambleu (fr), scrogneugneu (fr), têtebleu (fr), tubleu (fr), ventrebleu (fr), vertubleu (fr)

Christianity: moral virtue

Bulgarian: добродетел (bg) f (dobrodetel)

Finnish: hyvyys (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} kaayo
French: ^{(please verify)} bonté (fr)
Italian: ^{(please verify)} bontà (it)

Kurdish:
Sorani: ^{(please verify)} باشی‎ (başî), ^{(please verify)} چاکه‌‎ (çake)