-heit

See also:heit

German

Alternative forms

• -keit

Etymology

FromMiddle High German-heit,fromOld High German-heit,fromProto-West Germanic*-haidu,ultimately fromProto-Germanic*haiduz(“personality, character, manner, way”).Cognate withDutch-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.

• Audio:

  (file)

Suffix

-heitf(genitive-heit,plural-heiten)

1. Converts anadjectiveinto anounand usually denotes anabstractqualityof the adjectivalroot.It is often equivalent to the English suffixes-ness,-th,-ty,-dom:

   ‎schön(“beautiful”)+ ‎-heit→ ‎Schönheit(“beauty”)

   ‎neu(“new”)+ ‎-heit→ ‎Neuheit(“novelty”)

2. Convertsconcretenouns into abstract nouns:

   ‎Kind(“child”)+ ‎-heit→ ‎Kindheit(“childhood”)

   ‎Christ(“Christian”)+ ‎-heit→ ‎Christenheit(“Christendom”)

Usage notes

• While-heitis the normal form of this suffix, it becomes-keitafter certain adjectival suffixes. These are-bar,-ig,-isch,-lich,-sam.For example:‎nützlich(“useful”)+ ‎-heit→ ‎Nützlichkeit(“utility”).
• Adjectives ending in unstressed-el, -erusually take-keitas 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-haftand-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”)versusNeuigkeit(“news”).

Declension

Declension of-heit[feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	-heit	die	-heiten
genitive	einer	der	-heit	der	-heiten
dative	einer	der	-heit	den	-heiten
accusative	eine	die	-heit	die	-heiten

Derived terms

German terms suffixed with -heit

Further reading

• Friedrich Kluge(1883) “-heit”,inJohn Francis Davis,transl.,Etymological Dictionary of the German Language,published1891
• -heiton the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia^de

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

FromMiddle Norwegian-heit,a borrow fromMiddle Low German-heit.Compare withNorwegian Bokmål-het,Swedish-hetandDanish-hed.Ultimately fromProto-Germanic*haiduz.

Suffix

-heitf

1. (colloquial)creates abstract nouns from adjectives
2. (rare)creates concrete nouns

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms suffixed with -heit

References

• “-heit”inThe Nynorsk Dictionary.