niceness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English nice Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English niceness From nice + -ness.

1. Silliness; folly.
2. Effeminacy; indulgence in soft living or luxuriousness.

   “He was a good Citizen, of an honest-gentle nature, as are commonly fat and burly men; for so was he: But to speake truely of him, full of ambitious vanitie and remisse nicenesse [translating mollesse].”

3. Shyness; reserve.

   “Methinks a young create of niceness should be less ready to write to one man, when she is designed to be another's.”

4. Fastidiousness; fine sensitivity.
5. Pleasantness, especially of behaviour or personality; agreeableness.
6. A value determining how much processor time to concede to a running process. (See also nice (verb), renice.)