-less
suffix/ləs/ · /lɪs/
Etymology 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
Morpheme, Usually 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: