-less

Also ‑lessness.

Without; unaffected by; failure or inability.

Old English ‑lēas, from lēas, devoid of.

Words in ‑less are nearly all adjectives. The great majority come from nouns and have the sense of lacking or being without that thing or quality: bottomless, childless, defenceless, lawless, pointless, spineless, strapless, toothless. The comparatively few that originate in verbs indicate something that is unaffected by the action or the verb, or some failure or inability to carry out that action: dauntless, quenchless, relentless, resistless, tireless.

The suffix is freely used to create new adjectives at need, to the extent that only a proportion of them can be recorded in dictionaries. Many are invented to fill a momentary need: girlfriendless, handbrakeless, monarchless, passwordless, sidewalkless.

Corresponding nouns are formed by adding ‑ness: childlessness, fearlessness, tastelessness.