The quality of having a pleasant, kind, and easygoing temperament; the state of being naturally amiable and free from malice.
Compound of 'good-natured' (adjective meaning having a pleasant nature) plus the abstract noun suffix '-ness.' 'Good-natured' combines 'good' with 'natured' (from Latin 'natura,' meaning 'essential character'), all formed in the 17th-18th centuries.
Adding '-ness' to 'good-natured' makes it sound delightfully formal and old-fashioned—like you're measuring someone's kindness on an official scale! The phrase captures something English speakers have valued for centuries: the idea that some people are just *fundamentally* pleasant, not because they're trying but because it's built into their nature.
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