Saltinesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The characteristic of having a salty flavor or taste
2. The various levels of salt concentration in food or solutions
3. The quality of food or liquid having a noticeable salt taste ; the measure of how much salt is dissolved in a substance

Etymology: "Saltiness" is the plural of "saltiness," which is formed from the adjective "salty" plus the suffix "-ness." The suffix is an old and productive one: it comes from Old English "-nes," which turned a describing word into a noun for the quality it names, so "salty" became the name for the quality of being salty. Plurals of this kind are used when a speaker wants to name several distinct instances of the quality, such as the different degrees or sources of saltiness in a set of foods, rather than the quality in general. The plural form follows the regular English pattern of adding "-es" to words ending in "-s."

Synonyms: salinity

Antonyms: freshness