Closeness is how near two people or things are. The closeness of the vote, emotional closeness, a surprising closeness.
It covers distance and intimacy with the same word, which English does not do for every such pair. Of a room, closeness means stuffiness — close in that sense is an old use meaning shut in. Note close, which as a verb and an adjective are pronounced differently.
1nounclosenessHow near two people or things are.
“The closeness between the two sisters was obvious; they told each other everything.”
closeness is a nearness.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)kleh₂w-
Middle English
closen — to close, enclose
English
close
English, today
closeness
From close + -ness. close comes from Middle English closen (“to close, enclose”), partly continuing (in altered form) earlier Middle English clusen (“to close”) from Old English clȳsan (“to close, shut”); compare beclose, foreclose, etc.), and partly derived from Middle English clos (“close, shut up, confined, secret”), from Old French clos (“close, confined”), from Latin clausus (“shut up”), from claudō (“to bar, block, close, enclose, bring an end to, confine”), from Proto-Indo-European kleh₂w- (“key, hook, nail”), related to Latin clāvis (“key, deadbolt, bar”), clāvus (“nail, peg”), claustrum (“bar, bolt, barrier”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείω, κλείς (“bar, bolt, key”), Russian заключи́ть (via ключ), German schließen (“to close, conclude, lock”), Dutch sluiten (“to close, conclude, lock”). Partially replaced Old English lūcan (“to close, lock, enclose”), (whence English lock). Doublet of clause.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA