Practicalness is from practical + -ness, ultimately from Ancient Greek praktikos ('fit for action'), from prassein ('to do, act'). Important recorded forms include praktikós (Ancient Greek) and prássein (Ancient Greek). 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 the quality of being practical or useful. The wider family includes related words such as practical, practice, and practically.