-ness

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English -nes, also -nesse,^[2][3] inherited from Old English -nes, also -ness, -nis and -nys,^[3][2][4] from Proto-West Germanic *-nassī,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *-inassuz.^[1][5] It is cognate with Old Frisian -nisse, Old Saxon -nissi, Middle Dutch -nisse, Old High German -nissi, German -nis, Dutch -nis and Gothic -𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (-inassus).^[6][5][4] The first consonant was not originally part of the suffix: it was the final -n- of the preceding stem, taken into the ending by false division, and the suffix proper was Proto-Germanic *-assuz,^[1][6][7] seen alone in Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (ufarassus, “abundance”) and Gothic 𐌹𐌱𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (ibnassus, “equality”),^[3][6] and in Old English efnes (“equality”).^[6][7] The OED and Wiktionary analyse that ending as a compound of the verbal suffix of Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lauhatjan, “to flash like lightning”) and a noun suffix, the OED's being the base of -th;^[6][1] Barnhart reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *-ad-tu-s and compares the Greek verb ending -άζω (-ázō),^[3] while Etymonline thinks it probably shares a root with Latin -tūdō.^[5] The OED says that the shifting vowel of the West Germanic forms has not been explained, and that the suffix leaves no trace in North Germanic.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Germanic the suffix went at first mainly on weak verb stems.^[6] By Old English it was the usual way of making a noun of state or condition from an adjective or a past participle, and many such nouns survive, among them bitterness, darkness, drunkenness and hardness.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The suffix has stayed productive in every period and can now be added to any adjective or participle, whatever its origin.^[6] Barnhart distinguishes three uses: a quality or state, a way of behaving, and a single instance, as when a kindness is one kind act.^[3] Concrete senses developed in a few words, such as fastness, likeness, wilderness and witness.^[4][6] Nouns made from verbs date mainly from Old and Middle English and stayed few and rare.^[6] Nouns from pronouns and adverbs tend to belong to specialized use, and those from whole phrases are mostly recent and seldom serious.^[6] Weekley remarks that the suffix is much used in modern jocular coinages, quoting "Why this thusness?".^[8]

Timeline

• Old English – the usual suffix for nouns of state from adjectives and past participles.^[6]
• early Middle English – wilderness, unusual in having a mainly concrete sense.^[6]
• 16th century – nouns from compound adjectives become common: kindheartedness, self-conceitedness.^[6]
• 17th century – nouns from pronouns and adverbs: my-ness, nowness, whatness.^[6]
• early 19th century on – most nouns from whole phrases: up-to-dateness, used-upness.^[6]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming nouns from adjectives and participles that name a state, condition or quality: dampness, preparedness.^[9][2][10]
2. Forming nouns for a particular instance of such a quality: an illness.^[9][3]
3. Forming nouns for the degree of a quality: the thickness of a wall.^[2]

Word family

• kindness
• sickness
• goodness
• happiness

Related words

• -th

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press