## Etymology
From numb + -ness; numb is from Middle English nomen ('taken, seized'), past participle of nimen ('to take'), from Old English niman ('to take'), the sense being 'deprived of feeling, taken'.

## AI Etymology
Numbness is from numb + -ness; numb is from Middle English nomen ('taken, seized'), past participle of nimen ('to take'), from Old English niman ('to take'), the sense being 'deprived of feeling, taken'. Important recorded forms include niman (Old English). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers loss of sensation or feeling; emotional deadening. The wider family includes related words such as numb.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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