Armlessness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being without arms, whether from birth, injury, or amputation
2. A condition in which a person or animal lacks one or both arms entirely
3. Having no limbs in the upper body, a physical state that affects how one moves and acts

Etymology: "Armlessness" is about as plain as English compounds get: it is the noun form of "armless," built by adding the suffix "-ness" to that adjective. "Armless" itself is "arm" with the suffix "-less," meaning "without," so the whole word literally means "the state of being without arms." The suffix does the real work here. "-ness" was an Old English noun-forming ending, attached to adjectives to turn a quality into a thing you can talk about, as in "kindness" or "darkness." Because it can be added freely to any adjective, English speakers have long been able to produce a noun for almost any description, and "armlessness" follows that same pattern, pairing the Old English root "arm" with the Old English-derived "-less."