Nakednesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of having no clothing or covering on the body
2. The state of being without garments or any form of dress
3. The quality or fact of being unclad and exposed to view

Etymology: Before it was spelled "nakednesse," this noun was built in Old English from "nacod" (naked) and the suffix "-nes," which turns an adjective into a noun for a state or quality. The root "nacod" goes back to a Germanic form and is related to Latin "nudus" and Sanskrit "nagna," which suggests an ancient shared ancestor meaning "bare." The English word is therefore a plain compound with no borrowing involved. The final "-e" in this spelling is a Middle English feature. Scribes wrote many final vowels that had weakened in pronunciation, so "nakednesse" and "nakedness" represent the same word at different stages of the language. Modern English settled on the shorter spelling, but the meaning of bare or uncovered has stayed stable throughout.