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softness

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Etymology and origin of the English word softness

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Ælfric, Catholic Homilies
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *samftijaz

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsɒftnəs/[1]
  • US: /ˈsɔftnəs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English softnes,[2][3] inherited from Old English sōftnes (“ease, comfort”),[2][4] from Old English sōfte + -nes.[2][3] The revised OED treats it as soft with the suffix -ness, and compares Old English sēftnes (“ease, repose, quietness of voice”), from the older adjective sēfte, and Middle Low German sachtnisse (“relief, comfort, rest, absence of wind”).[5] The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *samftijaz (“level, even, smooth, gentle, soft”), also the source of Old Saxon safti, Old High German semfti and German sanft.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ease, comfort and luxury, in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies; the state of being soft to the touch is recorded in his Lives of Saints.[5] Clark Hall glosses the Old English noun "ease, comfort", then "softness" and "luxury",[4] and Etymonline gives the same range.[3]

Semantic evolution

Old English already used the word both for bodily ease and for what is soft to the touch.[3][5] From before 1200 it also described a mild or gentle disposition,[5][6] a sense Etymonline dates to about 1300,[3] and before 1382 the Wycliffite Bible had it for a display of tenderness; the plural came to mean soft words or blandishments.[5] Chaucer's single use, softenesse, means luxuriousness.[7] From about 1275 to 1634 it could also mean smoothness or calm.[5][6] The unfavourable sense, weakness of character or timidity, appears in 1553,[6] about 1600 in Etymonline;[3] Johnson (1755) lists "effeminacy; vicious delicacy" and "timorousness; pusilanimity" beside "mildness; kindness" and "civility; gentleness".[8] From the 17th century the word followed the adjective into the other senses: gentle sound (1636), blurred outlines in pictures (1668), mild weather (1710) and water with few dissolved salts (1712).[5][6] The softness of the pulse, a pulse easily compressed, is recorded from 1632 to 1928.[5][9] Technical uses came later, for magnetism (1833), a falling market (1872) and a poorly evacuated thermionic valve (1919); from 1873 it could also mean a fondness for someone or something.[6] In dialect it meant weakness of character or foolishness in Scotland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk, and amorous feeling in Fife.[10]

Timeline

  • Old English – ease, comfort, luxury.[5][6]
  • Old English – the quality of being soft to the touch.[5][6]
  • before 1200 – mildness or gentleness of disposition.[5][6] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.[3]
  • c. 1275 – smoothness, calmness (obsolete after 1634).[5][6]
  • before 1382 – a display of tenderness; in the plural, soft words.[5][6]
  • 1553 – weakness of character, timidity.[6] Etymonline dates it to about 1600.[3]
  • 1632 – of the pulse, easily compressed (last recorded 1928).[5]
  • 1636 – of sound, mellowness or quietness.[5][6]
  • 1668 – absence of hard outlines in a picture.[5][6]
  • 1710 – mildness of weather.[5][6]
  • 1712 – of water, a low content of dissolved salts.[5][6]
  • 1833 – of a material, the ease with which it is magnetized.[5][6]
  • 1872 – of prices or a market, a tendency to fall.[6]
  • 1873 – a fondness for a person or thing.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The quality or state of being soft, especially of being pleasant to the touch or yielding to pressure: the softness of the new pillows.[11][2][5]
  2. Mildness or gentleness of character; tenderness.[5][8]
  3. Of sound, freedom from harshness; mellowness or quietness: the softness of her voice on the telephone.[5]
  4. Absence of hard outlines in a drawing or photograph.[5]
  5. Mildness of weather.[5]
  6. Of water, a low content of dissolved calcium and magnesium salts.[5]
  7. (metallurgy) The tendency of a metal to distort easily.[11]
  8. Weakness of character; timidity.[6][8]
  9. Ease and luxury; comfortable living; now somewhat archaic.[5][4]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  7. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  8. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

  • knave · also from Old English
  • husband · also from Old English
  • small · also from Old English
  • head · also from Old English
  • water · also from Old English
  • far · also from Old English
  • yes · also from Old English
  • side · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Softness.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/softness. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·