different between tenderness vs forgiveness

English

Etymology

tender +? -ness

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?.n?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t?n.d?.n?s/
• 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. concern for the feelings or welfare of others

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

3. pain or discomfort when an affected area is touched

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

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English for?ifnes, for?iefnes, for?iefennes (“forgiveness, remission, indulgence, permission”, literally “forgivenness”), equivalent to forgiven +? -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /f????vn?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f????vn?s/
• Hyphenation: for?give?ness

Noun

forgiveness (usually uncountable, plural forgivenesses)

1. The action of forgiving.
   • 1931, Mahatma Gandhi, Young India

     The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

2. Readiness to forgive.

Synonyms

• (action of forgiving): remission
• (readiness to forgive): mercy

Translations

References

• forgiveness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.