-ness

See also: ness and Ness

English

Alternative forms

• ⠰⠎
• -nesse (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Cognates are Old Saxon -nissi, -nussi, Dutch -nis, German -nis and Gothic -𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (-assus), -𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (-inassus).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nəs/
  • (Old-fashioned RP) IPA^(key): /nɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /nəs/, /nɪ̈s/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /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 words 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)
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• German: -nis (de), -heit (de), -keit (de)
• Greek: -ότητα (el) (-ótita)
• 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 (sacktəy)

• 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
• Manx: -aght f
• Marathi: -पणा m (-paṇā)
• Norwegian: -het (no), -skap (no)
• Old English: -nes, -nis
• Old Saxon: -nissi, -nussi
• Ottoman Turkish: -لق‎ (-lık)
• Polish: -ość (pl), -stwo (pl)
• Portuguese: -idade (pt) f, -eza (pt) f, -ez (pt) f, -idão f
• Romanian: -itate f, -tate f, -ătate f
• Russian: -ность (-nostʹ), -ость (ru) (-ostʹ), -ство (-stvo)
• 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)
• Vietnamese: sự (vi), nỗi (vi), niềm (vi)
• Welsh: -rwydd (cy)
• West Frisian: -ens, -heid, -skip
• Yiddish: ־ניש‎ n (-nish), ־קייט‎ (-keyt), ־הייט‎‎ (-heyt‎)

Anagrams

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

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Middle English

Suffix

-ness

1. Alternative form of -nesse

References

• “-nes(se, suf.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 9 April 2018.

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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

• -ness in Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary