tenderness

English

Alternative forms

• tendernesse (obsolete)

Etymology

From tender +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛn.dɚ.nɪs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛn.də.nɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ten‧der‧ness

Noun

tenderness (countable and uncountable, plural tendernesses)

1. A tendency to express warm, compassionate feelings.

   When the lovers were together, their cold indifference gave way to love and tenderness.

   • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette:

     I had known him jealous, suspicious; I had seen about him certain tendernesses, fitfulnesses—a softness which came like a warm air, and a ruth which passed like early dew, dried in the heat of his irritabilities: this was all I had seen.

2. A concern for the feelings or welfare of others.

   When they saw the poor orphans, they were overwhelmed with tenderness for them.

   Everybody needs a little tenderness sometimes.

3. (medicine, pathology) A pain or discomfort when an affected area is touched.

   He noted her extreme tenderness when he touched the bruise on her thigh.

Derived terms

• rebound tenderness

 

Translations

a tendency to express warm, compassionate feelings

• Arabic: حنان m (ḥanān)

  Egyptian Arabic: حنية f (ḥiniyya)

• Bulgarian: нежност (bg) f (nežnost), грижовност n (grižovnost)
• Catalan: tendresa (ca) f
• Esperanto: tenero
• Estonian: õrnus
• Finnish: lempeys (fi)
• French: tendresse (fr) f
• Galician: tenrura f
• German: Zärtlichkeit (de) f
• Irish: armacas m
• Italian: tenerezza (it) f
• Japanese: 優しさ (ja) (yasashisa) (objective amount or degree), 優しみ (yasashimi) (subjective amount or degree)
• Luxembourgish: Zäertlechkeet f
• Polish: czułość (pl) f
• Portuguese: ternura (pt) f
• Romanian: tandrețe (ro) f
• Russian: не́жность (ru) f (néžnostʹ)
• Slovak: nežnosť f, neha f
• Spanish: ternura (es) f
• Swedish: ömhet (sv) c

concern for the feelings or welfare of others

• Bulgarian: състрадание (bg) n (sǎstradanie)
• Esperanto: tenerecoj
• Finnish: lempeys (fi)
• Romanian: grijă (ro) f, prudență (ro) f
• Russian: забо́тливость (ru) f (zabótlivostʹ), чу́ткость (ru) f (čútkostʹ)
• Swedish: ömhet (sv) c

pain or discomfort when an affected area is touched

• Bulgarian: чувстви́телност (bg) f (čuvstvítelnost)
• Dutch: gevoeligheid (nl) f
• Finnish: arkuus (fi)
• Romanian: sensibilitate (ro) f
• Russian: чувстви́тельность (ru) f (čuvstvítelʹnostʹ)
• Swedish: ömhet (sv) c

softness of food when chewing

• Bulgarian: мекота (bg) f (mekota)
• Maori: ngaoretanga