-less

See also: less

English

Alternative forms

-lesse (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.

Proto-Germanic *leusaną

Proto-Germanic *lausaz

Proto-Germanic *-lausaz

Proto-West Germanic *-laus

Old English -lēas

Middle English -les

English -less

From Middle English -les, -leas, from Old English -lēas (“-less”) (compare lēas (“devoid of, loose from, false”)), from Proto-West Germanic *-laus, from Proto-Germanic *-lausaz, from *lausaz (“loose”). (Not related to less, which derives from *laisiz, *laisizô.) Cognate with Scots -less, West Frisian -leas, Saterland Frisian -loos, Dutch -loos, Low German -los, German -los, Danish -løs, Swedish -lös, Icelandic -laus. More at loose.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ləs/, /lɪs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Suffix

-less (adjective-forming suffix, not generally comparable, comparative more -less, superlative most -less)

Lacking (something); without (something). Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.
aweless, skill-less, artless, doubtless, countless, soulless, will-less, tireless.
- 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
  The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

Usage notes

Adjectives formed using -less often form nouns by the addition of -ness (e.g. helplessness), but generally do not form nouns by the addition of other noun-forming endings.
A notable exception to the usual usage of this suffix is that doubtless is usually an adverb, rather than an adjective.

Synonyms

(lacking): an-, ex-, -free

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “lacking”): -ed, -y, -some (having in considerable amount), -ful (having in abundance)

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -less

Translations

lacking

Abkhaz: -ыда (-əda)
Acehnese: hana
Afar: sinni
Afrikaans: ont-
Akan: nim, a enni mu
Albanian: pa (sq)
Arabic: بِلَا (bilā), غَيْر ... (ar) (ḡayr ...)
Tunisian Arabic: لا (-le)
Armenian: ան- (an-)
Azerbaijani: -siz
Basque: -gabe
Belarusian: без- (be) (bjez-)
Bengali: -হীন (bn) (-hin)
Bulgarian: без (bg) (bez)
Catalan: sense (ca)
Cebuano: walay
Chinese:
Mandarin: 無- / 无- (zh) (wú-)
Chuvash: -сӗр (-sĕr)
Czech: bez- (cs)
Danish: -løs (da)
Dutch: -loos (nl), zonder (nl)
Esperanto: sen- (eo)
Estonian: -ta, -tu
Faroese: -leysur
Finnish: -ton (fi), -tön (fi)
French: sans ... (fr)
Frisian:
West Frisian: -leas
Galician: sen (gl)
Georgian: უ- (u-), უ- -ო (u- -o), არა- (ara-)
German: -los (de)
Greek: α- (el) (a-), αν- (el) (an-) , λιπο- (el) (lipo-)
Greenlandic: -eqanngitsoq
Gujarati: -હીન (-hīn)
Haitian Creole: e-
Hausa: mara (ha), marasa
Hebrew: אל (he) ('ál-)
Hindi: -हीन (-hīn)
Hungarian: -talan (hu)/-telen (hu), -atlan (hu)/-etlen (hu), -tlan (hu)/-tlen (hu), -hatatlan (hu)/-hetetlen (hu), mentes (hu), nélküli (hu)
Iban: nadai
Icelandic: -laus, -vana
Ido: sen-
Igbo: enweghị
Indonesian: nir-
Irish: gan (ga)
Italian: senza (it), in- (it), s- (it), dis- (it)
Japanese: -無し (ja) (-なし, -nashi), 無- (ja) (む-, mu-), -ない (ja) (-nai), 低- (てい-, tei-)
Jingpho: n rawng ai
Kannada: -ವಿಲ್ಲದ (-villada)
Kapampangan: alang
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: bê- (ku)
Kyrgyz: -сыз (-sız)
Lao: ບໍ່ມີ (bǭ mī)
Latin: sine (la), in-, ne-, se-
Latvian: bez
Lithuanian: be-
Luo: onge
Macedonian: без- (bez-)
Malay: nir- (ms), nis- (preceding vowels and letters k, t and c)
Māori: kore (mi) (compounded after nouns)
Mari:
Eastern Mari: -дыме (-dyme)
Mongolian: -гүй (-güi)
Nepali: -न- (-na-)
N'Ko: ߕߴߊ߬ ߟߊ߫
Norwegian: -løs (no)
Oromo: kan hin qabne
Ossetian: ӕнӕ- (ænæ-)
Papiamentu: sin
Persian: (prefix) بیـ (bi-)
Polish: bez- (pl)
Portuguese: sem (pt), des- (pt)
Punjabi: -ਹੀਨ (-hīn)
Romani: bi-
Romanian: fără (ro)
Russian: без(ъ)- (ru) (bez(ʺ)-) / бес(ъ)- (ru) (bes(ʺ)-)
Scottish Gaelic: gun
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: без-

Latin: bez-
Seychellois Creole: san
Slovak: bez-
Slovene: brez (sl)
Spanish: sin (es), des- (es)
Swahili: bila (sw)
Swedish: -lös (sv)
Tagalog: pugot ang, walang
Telugu: -లేని (-lēni)
Tumbuka: wambura
Turkish: -siz (tr), -sız (tr), -suz (tr), -süz (tr)
Tuvan: чок (çok)
Udmurt: -тэм (-tem), ӧвӧл (övöl)
Ukrainian: без- (uk) (bez-)
Venda: zwisina, asina
Vietnamese: cây đinh không
Welsh: di- (cy), di
Yiddish: ־לאָז (-loz)
Yoruba: àìní

Anagrams

ELSS, SELs, SLEs

Scots

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.

Proto-Germanic *leusaną

Proto-Germanic *lausaz

Proto-Germanic *-lausaz

Proto-West Germanic *-laus

Old English -lēas

Middle English -les

Scots -less

From Middle English -les, from Old English -lēas (“-less”).

Suffix

-less (adjective-forming suffix, comparative mair -less, superlative maist -less)

lacking; without. Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.

Derived terms

Scots terms suffixed with -less