sweetness

English

Alternative forms

• sweetnesse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English swetnes, swetnesse, from Old English swētnes (“sweetness”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtinassī (“sweetness”), equivalent to sweet +‎ -ness. Cognate with West Frisian swietens (“sweetness”), obsolete Dutch zoetenis (“sweetness”), Old High German swuoznessi, suoznessi (“sweetness”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: swēt'nəs, IPA^(key): /ˈswiːtnəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈswitnəs/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sweet‧ness

Noun

sweetness (countable and uncountable, plural sweetnesses)

1. The condition of being sweet (all senses).
2. A pleasant disposition; kindness.

   Ruth's overwhelming sweetness made Robert forget about his hopelessly low school grades.

3. The quality of giving pleasure to the mind or senses, pleasantness, agreeableness.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:

     The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne, […] / Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.

4. (informal) Term of address for one's sweetheart.
   • 1986, The Smiths (band), Bigmouth Strikes Again (song)

     Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said / I'd like to smash every tooth in your head.

   • 2011, Kimberly Gibney, Over the Edge, page 66:

     "Hey sweetness," he said. "How was practice?"

Derived terms

• sweetness and light

Translations

condition of being sweet or sugary

Afrikaans: soetheid Albanian: ëmbëlsi (sq) f Arabic: حَلَاوَةٌ f (ḥalāwatun) Aromanian: dultseatsã f Asturian: dulzura (ast) f Azerbaijani: şirinlik Bulgarian: сладост (bg) f (sladost) Catalan: dolçor (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 甜味 (zh) (tiánwèi) Crimean Tatar: tatlılıq Czech: sladkost (cs) f Danish: sødme c Dutch: zoetheid (nl) f Esperanto: dolĉeco Finnish: makeus (fi) Franco-Provençal: doçor f Galician: dozura f Georgian: სიტკბო (siṭḳbo), სიტკბოება (siṭḳboeba) German: Süße (de) f, Süßigkeit (de) f Greek: γλύκα (el) f (glýka), γλυκύτητα (el) f (glykýtita) Ancient: γλυκύτης f (glukútēs) Hebrew: מתיקות f (metikút) Hungarian: édesség (hu) Icelandic: sætleik f Italian: dolcezza (it) f Japanese: 甘さ (ja) (あまさ, amasa) Kazakh: тәттілік (tättılık) Korean: 단맛 (ko) (danmat), 감미 (ko) (gammi) Kyrgyz: таттуулук (ky) (tattuuluk) Latin: dulcēdō f, dulcitās f, dulcitūdō f, dulcor m, mellinia f, suāvitās f Latvian: saldums m Malay: manis (ms) Norwegian: Bokmål: sødme m, søthet m or f Nynorsk: søtleik m Occitan: doçor (oc) f Old English: swētnes f Polish: słodycz (pl) f Portuguese: doçura (pt) f Romanian: dulceață (ro) Russian: сла́дость (ru) f (sládostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: slatkòća f Spanish: dulzura (es) f, dulzor m, melosidad f, dulcedumbre f Swedish: sötma (sv) c Tatar: татлылык (tt) (tatlılıq) Thai: ความหวาน (th) (kwaam-wǎan) Turkish: tatlılık (tr) Ukrainian: соло́дкість f (solódkistʹ) Uzbek: totlilik Welsh: melyster m Yiddish: זיסקײַט f (ziskayt)

pleasant disposition — see also kindness

Afrikaans: soetheid Albanian: ëmbëlsi (sq) f Azerbaijani: şirinlik Bulgarian: ласкавост (bg) f (laskavost) Catalan: dolçor (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 甜美 (zh) (tiánměi) Danish: sødme c Dutch: zoetheid (nl) f Esperanto: amindeco Finnish: herttaisuus (fi) Galician: dozura f German: Süße (de) f, Süßigkeit (de) f Hungarian: kedvesség (hu) Icelandic: sætleik f Italian: dolcezza (it) f Latin: suavitudo f Latvian: saldums m Polish: słodycz (pl) f Portuguese: doçura (pt) f Romanian: dulceață (ro) Russian: доброду́шие (ru) n (dobrodúšije), доброта́ (ru) f (dobrotá) Serbo-Croatian: slatkost (sh) m Spanish: agradabilidad f Turkish: tatlılık (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) mìlseachd f

Further reading

• sweetness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sweetness (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• wetnesses