Leglessness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being born or made without legs, or of lacking them entirely
2. A physical state in which a person or animal has no legs at all
3. Absence of legs in a body, whether from birth, injury, or amputation

Etymology: Leglessness is about as plain as English word-building gets: it is "legless" with the suffix "-ness" attached. "Legless" itself is built from "leg" and the adjectival suffix "-less," meaning "without legs," and "-ness" turns that adjective into a noun for the state or quality of being in that condition. The combination yields a noun meaning the absence of legs, or in a looser sense, the condition of being without legs. The word's usefulness lies in its plainness. English already had "legless" for describing a person or animal without legs, and "-ness" is one of the most productive ways to make such adjectives into abstract nouns, so "leglessness" fills a gap where a speaker wants to talk about the condition as a thing in itself rather than as a description of a particular being. The same pattern produces many parallel formations, such as "armlessness" or "heartlessness."