light nessとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• IPA: /ˈlaɪtnəs/
• ハイフネーション: light‧ness

語源 1

From 中期英語 lightnes, lightnesse, from 古期英語 līhtnes, lȳhtnys (“enlightening, illumination”), from Proto-West Germanic *liuhtinassī; equivalent to light (“to make bright, illuminate”, verb) +‎ -ness (suffix forming nouns). Cognate with Old High German liuhtnissi (“illumination, enlightening”).

名詞

lightness (countable and uncountable, plural lightnesses)

1. (uncountable) the condition of being illuminated
   • 1989 February 28, Emily Saliers, “Closer to Fine”, in Indigo Girls, performed by Indigo Girls:

     Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
     and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.

2. (uncountable) the relative whiteness or transparency of a colour
3. (countable) The product of being illuminated.

語源 2

From 中期英語 lightnes, lightnesse, from 古期英語 *lēohtnes (“lightness”) (compare 古期英語 lēohtmōdnes (“lightness”, literally “light-moodedness”), līhtingnes (“lightness, alleviation”)); equivalent to light (“not heavy”, adjective) +‎ -ness (suffix forming nouns). Cognate with Middle Low German luchtnisse, lüchtnisse (“lightness, frivolity, joyfulness”).

名詞

lightness (uncountable)

1. The state of having little (or less) weight, or little force.
   • 1960 January, “The Swindon Type "4" diesel-hydraulic units”, in Trains Illustrated, page 39:

     The unique chassis design is largely the secret of the lightness of the locomotive.

2. Agility of movement.
3. Freedom from worry.
   • 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266:

     In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.

4. Levity, frivolity; inconsistency.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , New York 2001, p.75:

     Seneca […] accounts it a filthy lightness in men, every day to lay new foundations of their life, but who doth otherwise?

参照

アナグラム

• nightless, slightens, thingless