-ность
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Russian
Etymology
Probably originated from the suffix -ость (-ostʹ) added to words ending in -ный (-nyj), and was then extracted by rebracketing as a productive suffix. The same thing happened with e.g. -тельный (-telʹnyj) and English -ness.
Suffix
-ность • (-nostʹ)
- Suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives. A less productive alternative to -ость (-ostʹ), except after щ, where it is the regular suffix.
- гото́вый (gotóvyj, “ready”) → гото́вность (gotóvnostʹ, “readiness”) (no such word *гото́вный exists, making it a special case.)
- о́бщий (óbščij, “general, common”) → о́бщность (óbščnostʹ, “generality, community”) (no such word *о́бщный exists)
- Suffix forming nouns with the meaning of a group of things characterized by the quality designated by the adjectives from which the nouns are formed.
- Suffix forming nouns of various sorts from miscellaneous parts of speech.
- пове́рх (povérx, “over”) → пове́рхность (povérxnostʹ, “surface”)
Usage notes
- Not all words in -ность (-nostʹ) contain this suffix. Most of them are formed from -ость (-ostʹ) added to adjectives in -ный (-nyj), e.g. вре́дность (vrédnostʹ, “harmfulness”) from вре́дный (vrédnyj, “harmful”).
- As noted above, -ность (-nostʹ) is the regular alternative to -ость (-ostʹ) after adjectives whose stem ends in щ, e.g. о́бщий (óbščij), су́щий (súščij), бу́дущий (búduščij).
Declension
Derived terms
Related terms
- -арность (-arnostʹ)
- -ентность (-entnostʹ)
- -енциозность (-encioznostʹ)
- -ивность (-ivnostʹ)
- -ость (-ostʹ)
- -ярность (-jarnostʹ)
See also
References
- T. F. Yefremova (2006), The New Dictionary of the Russian Language
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