sweetness

English

Etymology

From Middle English swetnes, swetnesse, from Old English swētnes (“sweetness”), equivalent to sweet +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) enPR: swēt'nəs, IPA^(key): /ˈswiːtnəs/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈswitnəs/
Audio (GA) (file)
Hyphenation: sweet‧ness

Noun

sweetness (countable and uncountable, plural sweetnesses)

The condition of being sweet or sugary.
A pleasant disposition; kindness.
Ruth's overwhelming sweetness made Robert forget about his hopelessly low school grades.
The quality of giving pleasure to the mind or senses, pleasantness, agreeableness.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:
  The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne, […] / Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.
(informal) Term of address for one's sweetheart.
- 1986, The Smiths (band), Bigmouth Strikes Again (song)
  Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said / I'd like to smash every tooth in your head.
- 2011, Kimberly Gibney, Over the Edge (page 66)
  "Hey sweetness," he said. "How was practice?"

Alternative forms

sweetnesse (obsolete)

Derived terms

sweetness and light

Translations

condition of being sweet or sugary

Afrikaans: soetheid
Albanian: ëmbëlsi (sq) f
Arabic: حَلَاوَةٌ‎ f (ḥalāwatun)
Aromanian: dultseatsã f
Asturian: dulzura (ast) f
Azerbaijani: şirinlik
Bulgarian: сладост (bg) f (sladost)
Catalan: dolçor (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 甜味 (zh) (tiánwèi)
Crimean Tatar: tatlılıq
Czech: sladkost (cs) f
Danish: sødme c
Dutch: zoetheid (nl) f
Esperanto: dolĉeco
Finnish: makeus (fi)
Franco-Provençal: dóuçor
Galician: dozura f
Georgian: სიტკბო (siṭḳbo), სიტკბოება (siṭḳboeba)
German: Süßigkeit (de) f
Greek:
Ancient: γλυκύτης f (glukútēs)
Hebrew: מתיקות‎ f (metikút)
Hungarian: édesség (hu)
Icelandic: sætleik f
Italian: dolcezza (it) f
Japanese: 甘さ (あまさ, amasa)
Kazakh: тәттілік (tättılık)
Kyrgyz: таттуулук (ky) (tattuuluk)
Latin: dulcēdō f, dulcitās f, dulcitūdō f, dulcor m, mellinia f, suāvitās f
Latvian: saldums m
Malay: manis (ms)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sødme m, søthet m or f
Nynorsk: søtleik m
Occitan: doçor (oc) f
Old English: swētnes f
Polish: słodycz (pl) f
Portuguese: doçura (pt) f
Romanian: dulceață (ro)
Russian: сла́дость (ru) f (sládostʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: slatkòća f
Spanish: dulzura (es) f, dulzor m, melosidad f, dulcedumbre f
Swedish: sötma (sv) c
Tatar: татлылык (tt) (tatlılıq)
Thai: ความหวาน (kwaam-wǎan)
Turkish: tatlılık (tr)
Ukrainian: соло́дкість f (solódkistʹ)
Uzbek: totlilik
Welsh: melyster m
Yiddish: זיסקײַט‎ f (ziskayt)

pleasant disposition — See also translations at kindness

Afrikaans: soetheid
Albanian: ëmbëlsi (sq) f
Azerbaijani: şirinlik
Bulgarian: ласкавост (bg) f (laskavost)
Catalan: dolçor (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 甜美 (zh) (tiánměi)
Danish: sødme c
Dutch: zoetheid (nl) f
Esperanto: amindeco
Finnish: herttaisuus (fi)
Galician: dozura f
German: Süßigkeit (de) f
Hungarian: kedvesség (hu)
Icelandic: sætleik f
Italian: dolcezza (it) f
Latin: suavitudo f
Latvian: saldums m
Polish: słodycz (pl) f
Portuguese: doçura (pt) f
Romanian: dulceață (ro)
Russian: доброду́шие (ru) n (dobrodúšije), доброта́ (ru) f (dobrotá)
Serbo-Croatian: slatkost (sh) m
Spanish: agradabilidad f
Turkish: tatlılık (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

German: ^{(please verify)} Süße (de) f
Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} mìlseachd f

Anagrams

wetnesses