softness

English

Etymology

From Middle English softnesse, from Old English sōftnes, alteration of earlier sēftnes. Equivalent to soft +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔftnəs/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑftnəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒftnəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

softness (usually uncountable, plural softnesses)

1. The quality of being soft.
   • 1882, The Pall Mall Budget, page 9:

     […] the informal dressers, with their "divided skirts" and stealthy advances towards confessed trouserdom, are the strong-minded sisterhood, to whom the softnesses of sex are abominations […]

Antonyms

• hardness

Translations

the quality of being soft

Arabic: نُعُومَة f (nuʕūma) Catalan: suavitat (ca) f Czech: měkkost f French: douceur (fr) f Galician: suavidade (gl) f Georgian: სირბილე (sirbile) German: Weichheit f Greek: απαλότητα (el) f (apalótita) Ancient: ἁπαλότης f (hapalótēs), μαλακία f (malakía) Gujarati: કોમળતા f (komaḷtā), નમ્રતા f (namratā), નરમી f (narmī), નરમાશ f (narmāś), મૃદુતા f (mŕdutā) Hindi: कोमलता (hi) f (komaltā) Irish: (of person) leibideacht f Italian: morbidezza (it) f Latin: mollitūdō f, lenitas f Latvian: mīkstums m Malayalam: മൃദുത്വം (ml) (mr̥dutvaṁ) Old English: sēftnes f Ottoman Turkish: لینت (linet) Piedmontese: meuj m Portuguese: suavidade (pt) f Romanian: moliciune (ro) f Russian: мя́гкость (ru) f (mjáxkostʹ) Spanish: suavidad (es) f, molicie (es) f Swahili: wororo (sw) Swedish: mjukhet (sv) Telugu: కోమలత్వం (kōmalatvaṁ), మెత్తన (te) (mettana) Urdu: نَرْمی f (narmī)