whiteness

Etymology

From Middle English whitenesse, whitnesse, whytnesse, hwitnesse, from Old English hwītnes (“whiteness”), equivalent to white + -ness.

noun

1. The state or quality of being white (all senses).
   [Snow] may […] exchange its whiteness for yellowness, without losing its right to be called snow; […] 1666, Robert Boyle, Origin of Forms and Qualities according to the Corpuscular Philosophy
2. (sociology) The quality of being white (in the racial sense).
   As a white body, I have not had to face my whiteness; insofar as the world is oriented around whiteness, I rarely have to turn my attention back onto myself, as do the black and brown bodies that are “stopped” or “held up” for being out of place […] 2013, Shelley M. Park, Mothering Queerly, Queering Motherhood, page 42