ness
/nɛs/noun
ness is spelled N-E-S-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ness means “A promontory; a cape or headland. (Frequently used as a suffix in placenames.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ness is nesses.
How many letters and syllables are in ness?
| Letters | 4: N-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ness?
Ness appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ness?
- /nɛs/
Ness has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--ness.wav, En-us-ness.ogg, En-au-ness.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ness?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ness from its last stressed vowel (/əs/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sens.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ness
- ⠰⠎
- nesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ness mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A promontory; a cape or headland. (Frequently used as a suffix in placenames.)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ness in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense appended to adjectives to form nouns meaning "the state of being...", "the quali:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | -ité, -esse |
| German | -nis, -heit, -keit |
| Portuguese | -idade, -eza, -ez, -idão |
| Spanish | -idad |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ness come from?
From Middle English nesse (in placenames), from Old English næs, from Proto-Germanic *nasją (“promontory; ness”); cognate with Middle Low German nes, Icelandic nes, Swedish näs, Danish næs, Old Norse nes. Related to nose.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).