Yelownesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or condition of being yellow in color, as an archaic form of yellowness
2. The state of having a yellow hue or tint, a term used in older English writing
3. Yellow coloring as a quality of a thing, an old spelling that survives in early texts

Etymology: "Yelownesse" is a Middle English spelling of "yellowness," the state or quality of being yellow. Its history follows the pattern of many English nouns built from adjectives: an Old English adjective, "geolu" (yellow), took the suffix "-nes" (from Old English "-nes" or "-nys," meaning a quality or condition), producing "geolonesse" in Old English. The "-nesse" spelling is a later Middle English form, and the word shows the medieval habit of spelling vowels and endings in several different ways before standard spelling settled down. The adjective "yellow" itself has a long pedigree in the Germanic languages, and the same root gives Old High German "gelo" and modern German "gelb." The suffix "-ness" remained productive in English, which is why speakers could coin new nouns of quality from almost any adjective, and why "yellowness" is still in use today alongside its more common relatives.