Reowthfulnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of feeling sorrow or tenderness toward someone who is suffering, an archaic Middle English term for compassion
2. Tenderhearted sympathy and pity felt for another's misfortune, a quality expressed in older English writing
3. An archaic term for mercy and sorrowful kindness shown toward those in distress or hardship

Etymology: "Reowthfulnesse" is an Early Modern English spelling of "ruthfulness," the quality of being full of ruth, or pity. The word is built from "ruth," which comes from Middle English "reuthe," meaning pity or compassion, and the suffix "-ful" meaning full of, plus "-ness," the common suffix that turns an adjective into a noun of quality. "Ruth" itself descends from Old English "hreowþ," a word for sorrow, pity, or regret, and it is related to "rue," as in to rue a mistake, which still carries the sense of regret. The spelling "reowthfulnesse" reflects the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when English writers spelled freely and often used "ow" and "w" in ways that now look strange. The sense the word carries, tender sorrowful compassion, is the older meaning of "ruth" before it narrowed in modern use to mostly appear in the phrase "ruthless" and the rare "ruthful."

Synonyms: ruthfulness, compassion, pity, mercy

Antonyms: ruthlessness, cruelty