-less

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

• IPA^(key): /-ləs/, /-lɪs/

-less

1. Lacking (something); without (something). Added to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.
   • 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 (-lessness), but generally do not form nouns by the addition of other noun-forming endings. The suffix -lessness means "absence". A notable exception to the usual usage of this suffix is that "doubtless" is usually an adverb, rather than an adjective.

• -ed
• -ful
• -y

• ELSS, SLEs