-less
/ləs/
-less suffix: lacking (something); without (something). Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.
Suffix
-less (adjective-forming suffix, not generally comparable, comparative more -less, superlative most -less)
- 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.
- 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.2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist
-less meaning in Tagalog, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese
-less in Tagalog
- lacking
- pugot ang, walang
-less in Arabic
- lacking
- بِلَا bilā, غَيْر ... ḡayr ...
-less in Persian
- lacking
- بیـ bi-
-less in Vietnamese
- lacking
- cây đinh không
Synonyms of -less
Antonyms
Forms of -less
| comparative | more -less |
|---|---|
| superlative | most -less |
| alternative form (obsolete) | -lesse |
Origin of -less
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.
Questions about -less
- What does -less mean?
- -less means lacking (something); without (something). Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun.
- What is -less in Tagalog?
- -less in Tagalog is pugot ang, walang. See -less meaning in Tagalog.
- What part of speech is -less?
- -less is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -less?
- -less is pronounced /ləs/.
Words near -less in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -less (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl--less.wav.
Cite this entry: “-less.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-less. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.