2 syllables: good, ness. Stress on good.
GUUD-nuhs
/ˈɡʊdnəs/
goodness is pronounced GUUD-nuhs (/ˈɡʊdnəs/). It has two syllables (good-ness), with the stress on "good". Goodness refers to the quality of being good, kindness, or virtue, often used to describe moral quality or benevolence. In everyday usage it can also function as a mild exclamation of surprise or emphasis, as in “goodness me.” The term blends positive ethical meaning with a soft evaluative tone, typically serving as a noun in phrases like “the goodness of people” and as a polite intensifier.
Goodness refers to the quality of being good, kindness, or virtue, often used to describe moral quality or benevolence. In everyday usage it can also function as a mild exclamation of surprise or emphasis, as in “goodness me.” The term blends positive ethical meaning with a soft evaluative tone, typically serving as a noun in phrases like “the goodness of people” and as a polite intensifier.
"Her goodness shone through in her patient, helpful response."
"We were amazed by the goodness of the neighbors during the crisis."
"The goodness of that gesture touched everyone in the room."
Pronounce it as /ˈɡʊd.nəs/ in US/UK. The first syllable uses /ˈɡʊd/ with a lax, near-close back rounded vowel /ʊ/ followed by a light /d/; the second syllable is /nəs/ with a schwa-like reduction in rapid speech. Emphasize the first syllable: GOOD-ness. In careful speech, you can clearly release the /d/ before /n/, but in connected speech, the /d/ can blend, so you might hear /ˈɡʊdnəs/.
Common mistakes include pronouncing the first syllable with a long /uː/ (as in 'food') or turning /ɡʊ/ into /ɡoʊ/; another error is over-articulating the /d/ leading to /ɡʊdˈnɛs/ instead of /ˈɡʊd.nəs/. The best correction is: keep the /ɪ/ or /ʊ/ quality compact (like in 'good'), don’t elongate the vowel, and lightly contact the tongue blade with the alveolar ridge for /d/. For the second syllable, reduce to a quick /nəs/ rather than a full syllable, matching rapid speech rhythms.
In US and UK, the first syllable uses /ʊ/ as in 'good', with rhotic or nonrhotic accents affecting r-coloring only in connected speech; the second syllable /nəs/ remains constant. In Australian English, the first vowel may be closer to /ɜː/ or /ʊ/ depending on speaker, with less rounded lips and a more centralized vowel quality, and slower diphthongization on some speakers. Overall, the main difference is subtle vowel quality and consonant clarity; stress remains on the first syllable (/ˈɡʊd/).
The difficulty lies in the quick transition from the rounded /ɡ/ onset to the alveolar /d/ release and the reduced second syllable /nəs/. The /ʊ/ vowel in /ʊ/ sits between /u/ and /ɪ/, which non-native speakers often mispronounce as /uː/ or /oʊ/. Also, linking /d/ to /n/ in fast speech can blur boundaries, so you might hear /ˈɡoʊdnəs/ or /ˈɡʊdnəs/ depending on the speaker. Focus on crisp /d/ release and a clear, short /əs/ in the second syllable.
A distinctive concern is obtaining a clean /d/ before /n/ to avoid an intrusive gap or a slurred transition. Practically, you want a brief stop after /d/ before /n/, so your utterance lands as /ˈɡʊd.nəs/. The challenge is keeping the /n/ syllable unstressed and reducing it to /nəs/ in fluent speech, which is a key aspect of sounding natural.
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Goodness traces to Old English godnes, a noun form related to God and goodness as a quality. The root god- (from Proto-Germanic gudam) carried the sense of piety, righteousness, and divine virtue; over time it broadened to describe the moral quality of a person or thing. The suffix -ness is a common English nominalizer that turns an adjective (good) into a noun (goodness), signaling state or condition. By Middle English, goodness appeared in texts as a general term for moral virtue and decency, and in modern usage it often conveys benevolence or the aggregate quality of being good. The phraseology around goodness expanded with religious and secular discourse, reinforcing reliability, generosity, and the beneficial aspects of character. First known uses appear in religious and scholastic writings, where goodness described adherence to moral law and the goodness of God, later secularizing to reference humane behavior and the overall positive quality of things or actions.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "goodness" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "goodness"
-ess sounds
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