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