Kindness is native English wearing a native suffix: kind, from Old English gecynde, plus -ness, the Old English ending that turns an adjective into the name of its quality. That suffix is one of the small set — with -hood, -ship, -dom, -less and -ful — that mark a word as either native or thoroughly domesticated.
The word dates from about 1300, and its first sense was courtesy or noble deeds rather than the warmth it now means; kind deeds, kind feelings and the habit of being kind followed in the late 1300s. Old English had a word kyndnes, but confusingly it meant "nation," and also "produce, an increase" — which makes sense once you know that kind originally meant something like natural or innate, the quality of one's birth. Being kind was, at the start, behaving as befits your kin.
kindness (n.) c. 1300, "courtesy, noble deeds," from kind (adj.) + -ness . Meanings "kind deeds; kind feelings; quality or habit of being kind" are from late 14c. Old English kyndnes meant "nation," also "produce, an increase." also from c. 1300
kindness came in through Old English, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| an abstract noun built on a plain word | -ness, -hood, -dom, -shipkindness, childhood, freedom |
What gives it away on the page
| -ness, -hood, -ship, -dom, -less, -ful | Native suffixes. A Latin root wearing one of these has been naturalised.kindness, childhood, freedom |
Old English in the spelling guide · guess another word's family