—less
—less orig. an adj. rel. to LOOSE, LOSE, LOSS, OE. lēas devoid (of), free (from), governing the g., e.g. firena lēas free from crimes, but more freq. the second el. of adj. compounds, the first el. being a sb., e.g. wīflēas without a wife. The sb. may be a noun of action with the same form as the related vb., and some adjs. so formed have the sense ‘not to be — ed’, ‘un — able’, e.g. countless, numberless. On the supposed analogy of these —less has been added (from late XVI) to many verbs, e.g. dauntless, fadeless, tireless.
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