Compound words with LESS

LESS is a one-sided word. It finishes 17 compounds in this list and heads none of them, so it can end a chain but never sit in the middle of one.

Words that go in front of LESS

Each of these makes a compound ending in LESS.

• bloodless — blood + less
• boneless — bone + less
• fatherless — father + less
• headless — head + less
• lawless — law + less
• lifeless — life + less
• listless — list + less
• mindless — mind + less
• motherless — mother + less
• pointless — point + less
• powerless — power + less
• selfless — self + less
• tasteless — taste + less
• thoughtless — thought + less
• timeless — time + less
• weightless — weight + less
• witless — wit + less

Why LESS joins the way it does

The -LESS in POINTLESS is not the LESS in less money. It comes from Old English lēas, meaning free from or devoid of, and is a cousin of loose; the comparative less is a different word entirely. That is why it attaches to nouns and not to quantities — BLOODLESS, TIMELESS, WEIGHTLESS, WITLESS.

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KEYSTONE is a free daily puzzle built entirely out of chains like these. You get the two ends and have to fill the two words in the middle. Three bridges a day, no account, no cookies.

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Other hinge words

Each of these has a page like this one. There is also an index of all 54.

AWAY · BACK · BALL · BED · BLACK · BOARD · BOOK · BOY · BREAK · CHECK · DAY · DOOR · DOWN · FALL · FATHER · FIRE · GROUND · GUN · HAND · HEAD · HOOD · HOUSE · LAND · LIFE · LIGHT · LINE · LOAD · MAN · MOTHER · NIGHT · OFF · OUT · OVER · PAY · POINT · POST · POWER · ROOM · RUN · SHIP · SIDE · SOME · STEP · SUN · TAKE · TIME · TURN · UNDER · WALK · WATER · WAY · WOOD · WORK