Readiness

How to spell readiness

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce readiness

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does readiness mean?

1. nounThe state of being prepared and willing to act or respond.

Readiness in a sentence

• The emergency team checked the equipment for combat readiness.

• Her quick readiness to volunteer impressed the whole committee.

Where does readiness come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This noun is built from the adjective 'ready' plus the native English suffix '-ness', which turns an adjective into a noun naming a state or quality. 'Ready' itself goes back to Old English 'ræde' or 'geræde', meaning 'prepared' or 'in good order', and was originally connected to the idea of riding or being equipped for a journey; the related sense of being fitted out and set to go survives in the modern meaning. The '-ness' ending is one of the oldest and most productive English word-builders, found in words such as 'darkness' and 'kindness', and it has been attaching itself to adjectives since Anglo-Saxon times. When 'ready' meets '-ness', the final 'y' of the adjective changes to 'i', which is the small spelling trap many writers forget: it is 'readiness', not 'readyness'. The same y-to-i rule explains spellings like 'happiness' and 'loneliness', so remembering one helps you remember them all.

How the word is built

• ready (prepared)
• -ness (noun-forming suffix denoting a state or quality)