-ness

• -nesse (obsolete)
• ⠰⠎ (Braille)

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nəs/
  • (old-fashioned RP) IPA^(key): /nɪs/
  • (obsolete or dialectal) IPA^(key): /nɛs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /nəs/, [nɘs]
• (US) IPA^(key): /nəs/, /nɪs/, /nɛs/

-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

   ‎eerie + ‎-ness → ‎eeriness

   ‎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

• 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, usually occur when the -y is part of the root, as in spry → spryness.
• Plurals are formed by adding -es, e.g. happiness → happinesses.

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

-ness

1. alternative form of -nesse

• IPA^(key): /ness/, [nes]

-ness

1. alternative form of -nes

Strong ō-stem:

• Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “-ness”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• -nes

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

-ness

1. Affixed to adjectives to form abstract nouns which denote a quality, state or condition.