Impressionableness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of being susceptible to outside influences or effects is notable in individuals with this trait
2. It describes an individual’s propensity to be molded by their environment or experiences
3. The quality of being easily affected or shaped by external factors

Etymology: Impressionableness is a plain compound: the adjective "impressionable" with the English suffix "-ness" attached, turning a quality into a noun. The adjective itself was formed in English from "impressionable", which traces through French to Latin. Its core is the Latin verb "imprimere", meaning to press something into a surface, built from "in-" ("into") and "premere" ("to press"). That physical sense of pressing a mark into wax or clay is the root of every later figurative use of "impress". The Latin verb produced "impressio", a pressing or stamping, which passed into Old French as "impression" and then, with the French suffix "-able" meaning "capable of being", gave a word for something that can be pressed or marked. English borrowed that adjective, and "impressionable" describes a mind or person easily stamped with the ideas and moods of others. Adding "-ness" then gave the abstract noun for that quality.