ness
/nɛs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.60 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
An Ulster princess and the mother of Conchobar mac Nessa and Findchoem in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Daughter of Eochaid Sálbuide. Also the mother of Cormac Cond Longas by incest with Conchobar mac Nessa.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A promontory; a cape or headland. (Frequently used as a suffix in placenames.)
Example Sentences
- "Velvraz Sebarm stands upon the lake, among orange-trees and pomegranates and almonds and peaches of the south, a mile north-west over the water from Zayana town, and two miles by land: an old castle built of honey-coloured marble at the tip of a long sickle-shaped ness that sweeps round southwards, with wild gardens running down in the rocks to the water’s edge, and behind the castle a wood of holm-oaks making a wind-break against the north."
Etymology
Named after the River Ness, of Proto-Brythonic/Pictish origin, from a Proto-Celtic word *Nesta describing great currents, according to MacBain, from the same Proto-Indo-European root that gave the river Νέστος (Néstos), possibly *ned- (“water”) (cf. German nass (“wet”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, nesse, næs, *nasją