Shyness comes from shy plus the noun-forming suffix -ness; shy is from Old English sceoh ('timid, easily startled'), from Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz ('shy, afraid'). The historical chain includes Old English sceoh and Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz. Older glosses in the chain include "timid, easily startled" and "shy, afraid", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, shyness is best read as suffixal formation and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the quality of being timid or reserved around others". related forms include shy. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.