-ness

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-ness

/nəs/ UK
/nɪs/ UK, dated
/nɛs/ dialectal, obsolete
/nəs/ New Zealand
[nɘs] New Zealand
/nəs/ US
/nɪs/ US
/nɛs/ US

Where it comes from

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. Compare German -nis and Dutch -nis

of the same origin.

suffix -nesses · -nesse · ⠰⠎

countable, morpheme, uncountable Appended in general, often informally, stylistically, or jocularly, for reification of an attribute. 1865 Lewis Carrol: Alice in Wonderland; CHAPTER VII: A Mad Tea-Party. You know you say things are "much of a muchness.." — did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness!
countable, morpheme, uncountable 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
Similar: -ability, -dom, -hood, -ibility, -icity, -ism, -itude, -ity, -osity, -ship, -th
countable, morpheme, uncountable 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

Translations

Every language

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

Español	-idad
한국어	ㅁ
日本語	-さ -sa, -性 -sei
中文	-性 xìng
हिन्दी	-ई -ī
Kiswahili	u-
Português	-idade, -eza, -ez, -idão
Français	-ité, -esse
Deutsch	-nis, -heit, -keit
Italiano	-ità, -ezza
Ελληνικά	-ότητα -ótita
Română	-itate, -tate, -ătate
Русский	-ность -nostʹ, -ость -ostʹ, -ство -stvo, -щи́на -ščína
Tiếng Việt	sự, nỗi, niềm
العربية	ـِيَّة -iyya
עברית	־וּת -út

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Cite this

MLA

"-ness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/-ness. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

-ness. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/-ness

Chicago

"-ness." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/-ness.

BibTeX

@misc{ness_2026,
  title = {-ness},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-ness},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}