The state or quality of being dry, having little moisture or humidity.
From Old English 'dryge' plus the noun suffix '-ness', which creates abstract nouns from adjectives. The root is Germanic, related to Old Frisian and Old Saxon words meaning 'dry.'
The -ness suffix is one of English's most powerful tools for turning any adjective into a concrete idea—'dryness' shows how language lets you grab an invisible quality and treat it like a noun you can measure and describe.
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