maleness (n.)

late 14c., "pertaining to the sex that begets young," as distinguished from the female, which conceives and gives birth, from Old French male, masle "male, masculine; a male" (see male (n.)). Mechanical sense, used for the part of an instrument that penetrates another part, is from 1660s. Meaning "appropriate to men, masculine" is by 1788. Sense of "composed or consisting of men and boys" is by 1680s.

word-forming element denoting action, quality, or state, attached to an adjective or past participle to form an abstract noun, from Old English -nes(s), from Proto-Germanic *in-assu- (cognates: Old Saxon -nissi, Middle Dutch -nisse, Dutch -nis, Old High German -nissa, German -nis, Gothic -inassus), from *-in-, originally belonging to the noun stem, + *-assu-, abstract noun suffix, probably from the same root as Latin -tudo (see -tude).