The quality or state of being fatty or containing a lot of fat.
From 'fatty' (adjective) plus the noun-forming suffix '-ness', which transforms adjectives into abstract nouns describing their qualities.
The '-ness' suffix is incredibly productive in English—you can attach it to almost any adjective to ask 'what is the quality of being like this?' which is why we have words like happiness, sadness, and even made-up ones like silliness.
Nominalized from 'fatty,' this term entered English discourse with increasing moral valence in the 20th century, particularly in contexts of bodily surveillance—a gendered phenomenon where women's fattiness was pathologized more severely than men's.
Use only in neutral botanical, zoological, or culinary contexts (e.g., 'the fattiness of salmon oil'). Avoid for human body description; use 'adiposity' in medical contexts.
["adiposity","lipid content"]
Resistance to gendered bodily judgment is part of broader feminist and disability justice movements.
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