Pinknesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being pink or featuring a pink hue
2. A quality relating to the various shades and intensities of the color pink
3. Instances or examples of the characteristic coloration associated with pinkness

Etymology: "Pinknesses" is the plural of "pinkness," and the plural is the form to explain. The noun is formed from the adjective "pink" plus the suffix "-ness," which English has attached to adjectives since Old English to turn them into nouns of quality, as in "sweetness" or "darkness." The suffix has an ancient pedigree. Its ultimate ancestry runs back through Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European forms, and it descends from Old English "-nes," which was already productive for making abstract nouns from adjectives. "Pinkness" is therefore a transparent, modern-style coinage built on that old machinery, and the plural "pinknesses" simply counts distinct instances of that quality. The plural is useful because "pinkness" alone names a general quality, while "pinknesses" treats the various shades and intensities of pink as separate things to be compared, as a paint catalogue or a fashion designer might. The base word "pink" is the one that carries the color sense; the suffix only converts it into a noun that can be counted.