Badnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or characteristic of being morally corrupt, harmful, or of poor quality
2. Wickedness, depravity, or the condition of falling short of what is good or acceptable
3. The condition of possessing evil, deficiency, or unworthiness in character or nature

Etymology: "Badnesse" is an older spelling of "badness," from Middle English, when English spellings often ended in a final "-e" that was later dropped. It is a simple compound: "bad," an adjective already in use in Middle English, plus the suffix "-ness." That suffix comes from Old English "-nes(s)" and turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state, so the word means "the quality of being bad." The base word is the hard part to trace. The origin of "bad" is uncertain, and etymologists have not reached agreement on it. The suffix, by contrast, is well documented. It was productive from Old English onward and produced many familiar pairs, such as "kindness" and "goodness."