keyness

K5E1Y4N1E1S1S1

noun

The degree to which something is key, or important.

OriginEnglish key ← Middle English keye ← Old English cǣġ →
Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounkeyness (uncountable)
  1. uncountableanthropologyThe degree to which something is key, or important.

    The keyness of a summarizing symbol derives from the relative fundamentality (or ultimacy) of the meanings which it formulates, relative to other meanings of the system.

    1973, Sherry B. Ortner, “On Key Symbols”, in American Anthropology, volume 75
  2. uncountablecomputationalThe statistical significance of a keyword's frequency in a given corpus, relative to a reference corpus.

    This was one of the weakest keywords that was found, with a keyness of 24.9.

    2005, Paul Baker, Public Discourse of Gay Men, →ISBN, page 160

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*kaiju
  2. Old Englishcǣġ
  3. Middle Englishkeye
  4. Englishkey
  5. Englishkeyness

From key + -ness.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

keyness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keyness

MLA

“keyness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keyness. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keyness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keyness.

Source: keyness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.