-ness

-ness

See also: ness and Ness

English

Alternative forms

• -nesse (obsolete)
• ⠰⠎ (Braille)

Etymology

From Middle English -nes, -nesse, from Old English -nis, -nes, from Proto-West Germanic *-nassī, from Proto-Germanic *-inassuz.

This suffix was formed already in Proto-Germanic by false division of the final consonant *-n- of the preceding stem + the actual suffix *-assuz. The latter was in turn derived from an earlier *-at(s)-tuz, from the verbal suffix *-at-janą + the noun suffix *-þuz.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nəs/
  • (old-fashioned RP) IPA^(key): /nɪs/
  • (obsolete or dialectal) IPA^(key): /nɛs/

  • Audio (Berkshire, England)

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /nəs/, [nɘs]
• (US) IPA^(key): /nəs/, /nɪs/, /nɛs/

Suffix

-ness

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

   ‎calm + ‎-ness → ‎calmness

   ‎dark + ‎-ness → ‎darkness

   ‎kind + ‎-ness → ‎kindness

   ‎one + ‎-ness → ‎oneness

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.

   ‎that + ‎-ness → ‎thatness

   ‎tree + ‎-ness → ‎treeness

   ‎thug + ‎-ness → ‎thugness

Usage notes

• If an 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. It does not, however, occur when the -y is part of the root, as in spry → spryness.
• Plurals are formed by adding -es, e.g. happiness → happinesses.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ness

Translations

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

Arabic: ـِيَّة‎ (-iyya), (several internal vowel patterns are used) Armenian: -ություն (-utʿyun) Azerbaijani: -lik (az) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: (used most frequently in loanwords, as many adjectives may be used as nouns in Chinese) -性 (zh) (xìng) Czech: -ost (cs) f Danish: -hed (da), -skab (da) Dutch: -heid (nl), -schap (nl), -nis (nl) Esperanto: -eco (eo) Faroese: -semi f or n, -heit f Finnish: -us (fi), -ys (fi) French: -ité (fr), -esse (fr) f Galician: -idade (gl) f Georgian: სი- -ე (si- -e), -ობა (-oba), -ება (-eba) German: -nis (de), -heit (de), -keit (de) Greek: -ότητα (el) (-ótita) Greenlandic: -ssuseq Hebrew: -ות‎ f Hindi: -ई f (-ī) Hungarian: -ság (hu)/-ség (hu) Ido: -eso Indonesian: ke- -an Interlingua: -itate (ia), -tate, -ia, -essa, -itude, -ismo Irish: -acht f Italian: -ità, -ezza Japanese: -さ (ja) (-sa), -性 (ja) (-sei), (0 ending on -な adjectives) Khmer: ភាព (km) (phiəp), សេចក្តី (sackdəy) Korean: ㅁ (ko) (m) Lao: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: -ност f (-nost), -ост f (-ost), -ство n (-stvo) Malay: ke- -an (ms) Manx: -aght f Marathi: -पणा m (-paṇā) Norwegian: -het (no), -skap (no) Old English: -nes Old Norse: -naðr, -skapr Old Saxon: -nessi Ottoman Turkish: ـلق‎ (-lık), ـلك‎ (-lik) Polish: -ość (pl), -stwo (pl) Portuguese: -idade (pt) f, -eza (pt) f, -ez (pt) f, -idão f Romani: -ipen m Romanian: -itate (ro) f, -tate (ro) f, -ătate (ro) f Russian: -ность (-nostʹ), -ость (ru) (-ostʹ), -ство (-stvo), -щи́на f (-ščína) Sanskrit: -ईय (-īya) Slovak: -osť f Spanish: -idad (es) Swahili: u- Swedish: -het (sv), -skap (sv) Telugu: -తనము (-tanamu) Thai: ความ (th) (kwaam) Turkish: -lık (tr), -lik (tr), -luk (tr), -lük (tr) Ukrainian: -ість f (-istʹ), -ство (-stvo) Vietnamese: sự (vi), nỗi (vi), niềm (vi) Welsh: -rwydd (cy) West Frisian: -ens, -heid, -skip Yiddish: ־ניש‎ n (-nish), ־קייט‎ (-keyt), ־הייט‎ (-heyt) Zazaki: -ey, -iye, -in

Anagrams

• ESNs, NSSE, SE SN, SNES, Sens, Sens., sens

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Middle English

Suffix

-ness

1. Alternative form of -nesse

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ness/, [nes]

Suffix

-ness

1. Alternative form of -nes

Declension

Declension of -ness (strong ō-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	-ness	-nessa, -nesse
accusative	-nesse	-nessa, -nesse
genitive	-nesse	-nessa
dative	-nesse	-nessum

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898), “-ness”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Scots

Alternative forms

• -nes

Etymology

From Middle English -nes, -nesse, from Old English -nis, -nes, from Proto-West Germanic *-nassī.

Suffix

-ness

1. Affixed to adjectives to form abstract nouns which denote a quality, state or condition.