# -ness

> English word · Suffix · IPA /nəs/

## Definitions
1. Appended in general, often informally, stylistically, or jocularly, for reification of an attribute.
2. 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)".
3. 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.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *-ōną
Proto-Germanic *-inōną
Proto-Indo-European *-dyé-
Proto-Germanic *-atjaną
Proto-Indo-European *-tus
Proto-Germanic *-þuz
Proto-Germanic *-assuz
Proto-Germanic *-inassuz
Proto-West Germanic *-nassī
Old English -nes
Middle English -nesse
English -ness
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ness