-heit

== German == === Alternative forms === -keit === Etymology === From Middle High German -heit, from Old High German -heit, from Proto-West Germanic *-haidu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haiduz (“personality, character, manner, way”). Cognate with Dutch -heid, English -hood, Danish -hed. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /-haɪ̯t/, [haɪ̯t] The suffix has secondary stress when it follows an unstressed syllable and often also when it precedes one. When it is entirely unstressed, the /h/ may be unpronounced in common speech. === Suffix === -heit f (genitive -heit, plural -heiten) Converts an adjective into a noun and usually denotes an abstract quality of the adjectival root. It is often equivalent to the English suffixes -ness, -th, -ty, -dom: ‎schön (“beautiful”) + ‎-heit → ‎Schönheit (“beauty”) ‎neu (“new”) + ‎-heit → ‎Neuheit (“novelty”) Converts concrete nouns into abstract nouns: ‎Kind (“child”) + ‎-heit → ‎Kindheit (“childhood”) ‎Christ (“Christian”) + ‎-heit → ‎Christenheit (“Christendom”) ==== Usage notes ==== While -heit is the normal form of this suffix, it becomes -keit after certain adjectival suffixes. These are -bar, -ig, -isch, -lich, -sam. For example: ‎nützlich (“useful”) + ‎-heit → ‎Nützlichkeit (“utility”). Adjectives ending in unstressed -el, -er usually take -keit as well: ‎eitel (“vain”) + ‎-heit → ‎Eitelkeit (“vanity”), ‎mager (“meagre”) + ‎-heit → ‎Magerkeit (“meagreness”). However, there are a handful of exceptions, e.g. Dunkelheit (“darkness”), Sicherheit (“safety”). Sometimes -ig- is added to the adjective and the suffix thus becomes -keit. This is the general rule with adjectives in -haft and -los: ‎fehlerhaft (“faulty”) + ‎-heit → ‎Fehlerhaftigkeit (“faultiness”). There is also a fairly large number of other adjectives that follow this pattern: ‎müde (“tired”) + ‎-heit → ‎Müdigkeit (“tiredness”). Two forms may exist for some adjectives, occasionally with a semantic distinction, e.g. Neuheit (“novelty”) versus Neuigkeit (“news”). ==== Declension ==== ==== Derived terms ==== === References === === Further reading === Friedrich Kluge (1883), “-heit”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891 -heit on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de == Norwegian Nynorsk == === Etymology === From Middle Norwegian -heit, a borrow from Middle Low German -heit. Compare with Norwegian Bokmål -het, Swedish -het and Danish -hed. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haiduz. === Suffix === -heit f (colloquial) creates abstract nouns from adjectives (rare) creates concrete nouns ==== Derived terms ==== === References === “-heit” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.