Cleanliness

How to spell cleanliness

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cleanliness

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cleanliness mean?

1. nounThe state of being clean, or the habit of keeping things and oneself free from dirt.

Cleanliness in a sentence

• The restaurant inspector praised the kitchen for its high standard of cleanliness.

• Personal cleanliness matters a great deal when you share a small flat with others.

Where does cleanliness come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on the older adjective 'cleanly', which once meant 'habitually clean' rather than simply 'clean on one occasion'. The root is the Old English clǽne, meaning 'pure, free from dirt', a thoroughly native Germanic word that also gives us the everyday adjective 'clean'. To 'cleanly' was added the suffix -ness, which forms abstract nouns naming a state or quality, so the literal sense is 'the state of being cleanly'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: although it grows from 'clean', the adjective base 'cleanly' is pronounced with a short e, 'klen-lee', which is why the word sounds like 'clenliness' yet is still spelled with the full CLEAN at the front. The word was in use by the late 1500s, and the famous pairing of cleanliness with godliness comes from an eighteenth-century sermon by John Wesley.

How the word is built

• clean (free from dirt)
• -li- (from -ly, the adjective ending of 'cleanly')
• -ness (state or quality)