-less

suffix

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -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.

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.”

   “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.”