-less

• -lesse (obsolete)

From Middle English -les, -leas, from Old English -lēas (“-less”) (compare lēas (“devoid of, loose from, false”)), from Proto-West Germanic *-laus, from Proto-Germanic *-lausaz, from *lausaz (“loose”). (Not related to less, which derives from *laisiz, *laisizô.) Cognate with Scots -less, West Frisian -leas, Saterland Frisian -loos, Dutch -loos, Low German -los, German -los, Danish -løs, Swedish -lös, Icelandic -laus. More at loose.

• IPA^(key): /ləs/, /lɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

-less (adjective-forming suffix, not comparable)

1. Lacking (something); without (something). Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.

   aweless, skill-less, artless, doubtless, countless, soulless, will-less, tireless.

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

• Adjectives formed using -less often form nouns by the addition of -ness (e.g. helplessness), but generally do not form nouns by the addition of other noun-forming endings.
• A notable exception to the usual usage of this suffix is that doubtless is usually an adverb, rather than an adjective.

• (lacking): an-, ex-, -free

• (antonym(s) of “lacking”): -ed, -y, -some (having in considerable amount), -ful (having in abundance)

• ELSS, SELs, SLEs

From Middle English -les, from Old English -lēas (“-less”).

-less

1. lacking; without. Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.