goodness

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The quality of being kind, moral, and good.

   She believed in the basic goodness of people.

2. 2
   noun

   The healthy or nourishing part of food.

   Steaming vegetables keeps all the goodness in them.

3. 3
   intj

   An exclamation used to express surprise or shock.

   Goodness, I didn't expect to see you here!

From Middle English goodnesse, godnesse, from Old English gōdnes (“goodness; virtue; kindness”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdnassī (“goodness”), equivalent to good + -ness. Cognate with Scots guidness (“goodness”), West Frisian goedens (“goodness”), Old High German guotnessī (“goodness”), Middle High German guotnisse (“goodness”), Russian годность (godnostʹ, “suitability, fitness”).

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