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.

   • 1906, Violet Hunt, The Workaday Woman, page 1:

     Quiet people too, for I think that about this time a sort of remorseful tenderness comes over the bullies and the nagsters, so that they go about gently and deprecatingly, hoping by one day's record sweetness to outface the year's blusterings.

4. (informal) A 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