The quality or state of being cowardly; lack of courage or bravery.
From Middle English 'cowardliche' (cowardly) with the noun-forming suffix '-ness' (from Old English). The '-ness' suffix transforms adjectives into abstract nouns expressing qualities or conditions.
English has both 'cowardliness' and 'cowardice' for the same concept, but cowardice comes from French while cowardliness uses Germanic roots—we often have synonym pairs from our mixed Norman-Saxon heritage!
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