From Middle Englishne, from Old Englishne, from Proto-West Germanic*ne, from Proto-Germanic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne. Cognates include Gothic𐌽𐌹(ni), Latinne, Sanskritन(ná), Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Russianне(ne), Lithuanianne, Irishní.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Adverb
ne (not comparable)
(obsolete) Not.
1481, William Caxton, Lyf of the Noble and Crysten Prynce, Charles the Grete:
I ne entende but onely to reduce thauncyent ryme in to prose.
I ne intend, but only to reduce thauncient rhyme into prose.
c1500, Melusine (translation):
For she ne dare doo, but to commande.
1512, Robert Copland, The History of Helyas, Knight of The Swan:
And whan the good quene herde these pyteous tydynges lytel lacked that the ne dyed for sorowe / wherfore all lamentably the began to complayne her sayenge.
1513, Gavin Douglas, The Aeneid (translation):
To suffir exile he said that he ne couth.
1513, Gavin Douglas, The Aeneid (translation):
I ne ask na land, nor realm.
c1520, Andria by Terence (translation):
This shold haue bene his skuce at the lest / And it ne had bene but good & honest.
c1520, Andria by Terence (translation):
O so incessaunt thow ad in thy desyre / For so that thow thy mynde now mayst haue / Thow ne caryst what thow dost requyre.
1550, The Mirror for Magistrates:
For he ne had, nor could increase his line.
1562, Arthur Brooke, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet:
In geving me to him whom I ne can, ne may, ne ought to love.
1576, William Lambarde, A perambulation of Kent:
Mary (quoth the king) so might me mine, ne haddest thou been Earle Godwine: casting in his dish the murder of his brother Alfred, which was done to death at Elie by the Counsell of Godwine.
1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender:
Ne durst again his fieri face out-show.
1587, Gascoigne and Kinwelmershe, Jocasta:
Ioc: How can that be and thou my ioy in warre? Po: Henceforth n'am I your ioy ne yet your sonne.
c1590, William Fowler, The Works of William Fowler:
What happs might chance me I ne knewe.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
His forces faile, ne can no lenger fight.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
As when a ship, that flyes faire vnder saile, / An hidden rocke escaped hath vnwares, / That lay in waite her wrack for to bewaile, / The Marriner yet halfe amazed stares / At perill past, and yet it doubt ne dares / To ioy at his foole-happie ouersight.
1591, John Phillip, A Commemoration on the Life and Death of the Right Honourable, Sir Christopher Hatton:
And now sweete death most welcome vnto mee, thy stroakes ne can, ne shall me once dismay.
1592, Robert Greene, A Looking Glass for London:
And twenty thousand infants that ne wot the right hand from the left.
1607, Thomas Walkington, The Optick Glasse of Humors:
But when he spoke, his plenteous words did flow / Like to thick-falling flakes of winter snow, / Ne any couth his wit so hiely straine.
1614, John Davies of Hereford, Eclogue Between Young Willy the SInger of His Native Pastorals, and Old Wernocke His Friend:
Now, siker ( Wernocke ) thou hast split the marke / Albe that I ne wot I han mis-song: / But, for I am so yong, I dread my warke / Woll be misualued both of old and yong.
1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto I, 2:
Whilom in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth, / Who ne in virtue's ways did take delight [...].
Conjunction
ne
(obsolete) Nor.
1484, Original Letters, King Edward the Fifth, under the direction of his Uncle, to Otes Gilbert, Esq., commanding him to receive Knighthood at the expected Coronation:
That than I shall not geve therunto faith ne credence, nor therfore put them to any maner ponyssement, before that they or any of them so accused may be at their lawful defence and answer.
1489, The gouernayle of helthe:
And therin is no drede nor bytternes ne expences, but therin is pure recreacyon of body and of soule soo it be donn in clene places.
1489, The gouernayle of helthe:
Be not to hasty ne sodenly vengeable, to poure folke doo no vyolence.
1489, The gouernayle of helthe:
Moreouer no man be so hardy to drynk fastyng cold water, ne after that he hath accompanyed wyth a woman, ne after gret trauayle, ne after exersice tyll he haue fyrst rested hym, ne by nyght namely yf he haue do gloue tofore.
1500, The Example of Euyll Tongues:
A false tonge wyll euer Imagyne and saye / That neuer by creature was sayd ne thought.
1509, Wynkyn de Worde, The fyftene joyes of maryage:
For chastyce can he not by daye ne nyght his wyfe but by his betynge maketh lyght and hote the loue bytwene her and her frende.
1511, The Records of the City of Norwich:
Item, that noo woman nor maide weyve any worsted stamynges ne sayes for that that thei be nott of sufficient powre to werke the said worsteddes as thei owte to be wrought, upon payne of iij s iiij d as often as thei be founde wevyng to be devyded and leuyed in maner and forme aboue expressed.
1520, Richard Pynson, The Lyfe of The Blessed Martyr Saynte Thomas:
That they shulde no lenger kepe ne susteyne Thomas the archebysshope.
1526, The Grete Herball:
The rote ought to be gadered in the begynnynge of somer and dryed in the sonne bycause [tha]¬t it corrupt ne rotte bycause of the moystnesse[,] & it may be kept two yeres;
1535, Thomas Elyot, The Education or Bringing up of Children:
For lyinge is a detestable vice, and to be hated of all men, ne to be suffred amonge seruantis ne other persones[,] howe poure estate so euer they be of.
1542, Nicholas Udall, Apophthegms (translation):
Thus some persones beeyng inuited and exhorted to falle to the studie of lettres, make their excuse that thei bee sickely, that thei can not slepe ne take their naturall reste in the nightes.
1558, Thomas Phaer, The Aeneid (translation):
We Moores be not so base of wit, ne yet so blunt of mynd.
c1560, Edward Gosynhill, The Schoolhouse of Women:
The deuyll gossyp, ought me a shame / And prayde I am nowe, euerye penye I wolde god he had, be blinde and lame / The daye and houre, he fyrste woed me / Ware not gossyp, these chyldren thre I wolde not tary, ye may be sure / Longer with hym, daye ne houre.
1562, Arthur Brooke, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet:
Neither extremitie, ne gentle meanes could boote; she hydeth close within her brest, her secret sorowes roote.
1562, Arthur Brooke, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet:
Ne on her teares or plaint, at all to have remorse, but (if they can not with her will,) to bring the mayde perforce.
1570, John Thynne, The Debate betweene Pride and Lowlines:
His hart encreaseth not thereby ne lesseth as edoon these fooles.
1577, The Hereford Municipal Manuscript:
And that no victualer ne other person or persons forestall any kynde of victualls cominge to the said Cyty or within the precyncte of the same before the same victualls be come to the place.
1587, Gascoigne and Kinwelmershe, Jocasta:
Ioc: How can that be and thou my ioy in warre? Po: Henceforth n'am I your ioy ne yet your sonne.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
But to her cry they list not lenden eare, / Ne ought the more their mightie strokes surceasse.
1634, W. Lathum:
Whose worth all outward is in shew alone / But inward sent hath not, ne vertue none.
1798, Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", ll. 443-6:
The pang, the curse, with which they died, / Had never pass'd away; / I could not draw my een from theirs / Ne turn them up to pray.
Usage notes
Ne survives only as part of the oral tradition in rural Scotland and Northern England. It is almost never used in common speech.
Anagrams
-en, EN, en, en-
Afar
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈne/
Pronoun
né
we, us
Usage notes
When followed by a word starting with a consonant, the form née is used.
See also
References
E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “ne”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
Ainu
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Verb
ne (Kana spellingネ)
(intransitive, copulative) to be, become
Derived terms
newa(“and”)
See also
an(“to exist”)
Albanian
Alternative forms
(Gheg)na
në
Etymology
The nominative-accusative is from accusative Proto-Albanian*nōs, stressed form of clitic Proto-Indo-European*nos, which is continued by the clitic na. Neve and nesh are innovated, but Gheg retains dative nahe (Old Albanian nae) from a genitive *nosōm.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [nɛ]
Pronoun
ne (accusativene, dativeneve, ablativenesh)
we, us
Declension
See also
References
Blagar
Noun
ne
human, person
References
A. Schapper, The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1
Breton
Etymology
From Proto-Brythonic*ni.
Particle
ne
not
Usage notes
Used combined with ket, mirroring French ne ... pas.
Catalan
Pronoun
ne (enclitic, contracted'n, procliticen, contracted procliticn')
represents an indeterminate number or quantity of a given noun
represents a place (associated with the action described by the verb) that would be introduced by the preposition de
replaces a phrase introduced by the preposition de
replaces the object of a causative verb
Usage notes
ne cannot be used more than once as the object of a given verb.
While ne is usually used to replace phrases beginning with the preposition de, adverbial phrases (eg de pressa) are replaced with hi.
ne is sometimes used instead of ho to replace an adjective or indefinite noun as the predicate of a verb.
ne is sometimes used popularly to add emphasis to a sentence: in this sense, it has no translation in English.
-ne is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs ending with consonant or ⟨u⟩, or between some adverbs/pronouns and a verb. In some varieties of Catalan (Balearic/Valencian) it can also occur in sentence-initial position.
See also
Chuukese
Conjunction
ne
to (connects verbs)
Preposition
ne
Expressing a fraction or a ratio. Preceded by a nominator and followed by the denominator.
Czech
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ˈnɛ]
Interjection
ne
no!
Particle
ne
not
See also
ano
Further reading
ne in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
ne in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
Dalmatian
Etymology
From Latinnec, neque. Compare Italiannè, Spanish, Catalan and Frenchni, Romaniannici.
Adverb
ne
neither
Deg
Noun
ne
water
References
Maurice Delafosse, Vocabulaires comparatifs de plus de 60 langues ou dialectes parlés à la Côte d’Ivoire et dans les régions limitrophes : avec des notes linguistiques et ethnologiques, une bibliographie et une carte (Paris, E. Leroux, 1904), page 231
Dutch
Alternative forms
nen
Etymology
From nen through apocope, itself a contraction of eenen, enen, the now-obsolete accusative form of een.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Hyphenation: ne
Rhymes: -ə
Article
ne
(Brabant) a, an
Usage notes
ne is used primarily in the dialects that retain the three-gender split. It is only used for masculine words, while een is used for feminine and neuter words.
The form nen is used before vowels (as the English an) and certain consonants (commonly b, d and t), differing from dialect to dialect.
See also
den
Anagrams
en
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl
Determiner
ne
that.
Pronoun
ne
that.
Esperanto
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Hyphenation: ne
Particle
ne
no
not
non-
Antonyms
jes
Finnish
Etymology
From Proto-Finnic*nek, from Proto-Uralic*ne + *-k(dual ending).
For the inflectional stems ni-, see se. nii- possibly derives from ni- with the plural infix (-i-).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈne/, [ˈne̞]
Rhymes: -e
Syllabification: ne
Pronoun
ne (plural, stemnii-)
(demonstrative, of things and animals) they, those (plural of the pronoun se(“it”); objects not pointed at by the speaker)
(colloquial, dialectal, of people) they
Synonym:he
Determiner
ne
those, the (not pointed at by the speaker)
Inflection
The case suffixes are mostly regular (except inessive and elative singular). Abessive is never used in singular and extremely seldom in plural. Instructive niin is more or less a theoretical construction, since it has developed into an adverb, and its current meaning cannot be derived from ne.
Descendants
Kven: net
Meänkieli: net
See also
Anagrams
-en, en
French
Etymology
From Latinnōn.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Rhymes: -ə
Particle
ne
(literary) not (used alone to negate a verb; now chiefly with the verbs pouvoir, savoir, cesser, oser, and daigner)
1713, Voltaire, letter, Dec 1713:
1826, Victor Hugo, Bug-Jargal, XXXVIII:
1868, Emile Zola, Madeleine Férat:
1943, Jean-Paul Sartre, Réflexions sur la question juive:
not, no (used before a verb, with a subsequent element following; see Usage Notes, below)
1851, Henri Murger, Le pays latin:
1998, Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules Élémentaires:
2012, Le Monde, 3 May 2012:
Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so-called "pleonastic" or "expletive" ne.
1829, Victor Hugo, Le Derner Jour d'un Condamné, XXVII:
1837, George Sand, Mauprat:
In comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative
Usage notes
Ne is typically followed by a verb and then a negative adverbial pas, plus, jamais, guère, or (now literary) point; by a negative pronoun personne or rien; or by a negative determiner, aucun or nul.
In colloquial French, ne is often omitted:
In literary French, ne can be used alone with certain verbs, as specified above.
See also
guère
jamais
pas
personne
plus
point
que
rien
Further reading
“ne” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
French grammar: Negation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
en
German
Etymology 1
Contraction of nicht, dialectal net, nit, ni.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Interjection
ne
(colloquial) right?; is it?; is it not?; tag question
Synonyms
gell
nicht
nicht wahr
oder
wa
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /neː/
Interjection
ne
Alternative spelling of nee
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Article
ne
(nonstandard)Alternative spelling of 'ne
German Low German
Article
nef
(Paderbornisch)nominative/accusative feminine singular of en: a
Pronoun
nem
(Paderbornisch)weak accusative of hei: him
See also
iähne
Gothic
Romanization
nē
Romanization of 𐌽𐌴
Hungarian
Pronunciation
IPA(key): [ˈnɛ]
Rhymes: -nɛ
Adverb
ne
don't, should/shall not, stop (doing something)
Usage notes
Used before the verb in an imperative clause (or sometimes a conditional clause expressing a wish or desire) to negate that clause; ne is always used instead of nem in the imperative mood.
Derived terms
(Compound words)
nebáncsvirág
nehogy
Further reading
ne in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
Ido
Etymology
From Esperantone, from Frenchne, Russianне(ne).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/, /nɛ/
Adverb
ne
not, don’t
Noun
ne (pluralne-i)
The name of the Latin script letter N/n.
See also
(Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze(Category: io:Latin letter names)
Derived terms
ne-(“non-, un-, in-, im-, ir- (etc.)”)
Isthmus Zapotec
Conjunction
ne
and
Istro-Romanian
Etymology
From Latinnix, nivem, through Proto-Romanian (compare Romaniannea, Aromanianneao), from Proto-Italic*sniks, from Proto-Indo-European*snígʷʰs(“snow”), root noun derived from *sneygʷʰ-(“to snow”).
Noun
nef (definitenevu, genitive/dativelu nevu)
snow
Italian
Etymology 1
From Latininde(“thence”). Compare Frenchen(adverb, pronoun).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): °/ne/°, (traditional)/ne/°
Rhymes: -e
In modern usage but not traditional usage, this word actively blocks syntactic gemination of its initial consonant. Hence però ne prendo(“I (will) take some”) is pronounced /peˈrɔ ne ˈprɛndo/ in modern usage, but /peˈrɔ‿nne ˈprɛndo/ traditionally, since però normally triggers syntactic gemination.
Adverb
ne
from there
Usage notes
The adverb ne replaces di là(“from there”):
Pronoun
ne
about it
of it
of them (sometimes not translated in English)
Usage notes
The pronoun ne stands for di + [pronoun], and can thus be a translation of “[preposition] + it/them” for any preposition that is translated as di in Italian.
See also
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
IPA(key): °°/ne/*
Rhymes: -e
This word triggers syntactic gemination of the following consonant, and may or may not block syntactic gemination of its initial consonant (contrast the pronominal usage above).
Contraction
ne
Apocopic form of nel
Usage notes
The contraction ne is used where nel, nella, etc, would ordinarily be used, but cannot be because the article is part of the title of a film, book, etc.
See also
de
né
Japanese
Romanization
ne
Rōmaji transcription of ね
Rōmaji transcription of ネ
Kalasha
Determiner
ne
no
Particle
ne
no
Karelian
Etymology
From Proto-Finnic*nek, from Proto-Uralic*ne. Cognates include Finnishne and Estonianneed.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈne/
Determiner
ne
these, those
Pronoun
ne
these, those
they (inanimate)
Declension
See also
References
P. M. Zaykov (1999) Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)], →ISBN, page 58
Ladin
Adverb
ne
not
Latin
Pronunciation
(Classical) IPA(key): /neː/, [neː]
(Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ne/, [nɛ]
Etymology 1
Extended from Proto-Indo-European*ne(“not”) (whence Old Latinne(“not”)). Cognates include Proto-Germanic*ne (whence Gothic𐌽𐌹(ni) and Old Englishne), Sanskritन(ná), Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Russianне(ne), Lithuanianne, Irishní.
Adverb
nē (not comparable)
no, not
Derived terms
nē quidem (not even)
Conjunction
nē (+ subjunctive)
that not, in order not to and similar; lest
(Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 11)
(Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 10)
(Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 11)
Usage notes
Not to be confused with the affirmative particle ne (see Etymology 2).
Derived terms
nēve/neu
nē forte
nē quō(“to no place, nowhither”)
nē quis
neutiquam
Related terms
Etymology 2
From Proto-Indo-European*h₁enos(“that one”), the source also of Latinenim(“truly!, indeed!”). Cognates include Ancient Greekνή(nḗ), ναί(naí).
Interjection
nē
truly!, indeed!; commonly connected with other affirmative particles
Latvian
Pronunciation
Conjunction
ne
not
Lithuanian
Etymology
From Proto-Balto-Slavic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nɛ/
Interjection
ne
no (used to show disagreement or negation)
Livonian
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Pronoun
ne
they; nominative plural of tämā
Luganda
Conjunction
ne
and (only used if the overall statement is grammatically positive)
See also
na
References
The Essentials of Luganda, J. D. Chesswas, 4th edition. Oxford University Press: Nairobi. 1967, p. 94.
Mandarin
Pronunciation
Romanization
ne (Zhuyin˙ㄋㄜ)
Pinyin transcription of 吶, 呐
Pinyin transcription of 呢
ne
Nonstandard spelling of né.
Nonstandard spelling of nè.
Usage notes
English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.
Mezquital Otomi
Etymology 1
From Proto-Otomi [Term?], from Proto-Otomian [Term?], from Proto-Oto-Pamean*neʔ.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nè/
Verb
ne
(trans)want
Etymology 2
From Proto-Otomi*ne, from Proto-Otomian*ne, from Proto-Oto-Pamean*te/*ne, from Proto-Oto-Manguean*(Y)te(H)³.
Alternative forms
né (obsolete)
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /né/, /ně/
Noun
ne
mouth
snout
edge(of a blade)
bite, sting
animals at the head of the herd
References
Andrews, Enriqueta (1950) Vocabulario otomí de Tasquillo, Hidalgo[1] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, pages 19, 47, 74
Hernández Cruz, Luis; Victoria Torquemada, Moisés (2010) Diccionario del hñähñu (otomí) del Valle del Mezquital, estado de Hidalgo (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 45)[2] (in Spanish), second edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 210
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutchne, from Proto-Germanic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Adverb
ne
not
Usage notes
Immediately precedes the verb. Often found in combination with the synonymous niet or another negating adverb, which is placed elsewhere.
Alternative forms
en
Descendants
Dutch: n-(prefix)
Further reading
“ne (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
“ne (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “en (V)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page en
Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “ne”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN
Middle English
Alternative forms
ny, ni (rare)
Etymology
From Old Englishne, from Proto-West Germanic*ne, from Proto-Germanic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nɛ/, /nə/
Adverb
ne
not (negates the accompanying verb)
13??, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Knight's Portrait" (line 70), The Canterbury Tales.
He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde.
not (to no degree, extent, or way)
Usage notes
Middle English lacks do-support. Instead, ne is simply used by itself: Puple deien, bot fame ne deieþ ("People die, but reputation does not die").
Middle English has negative concord, so negatives don't cancel out another, unlike formal English or Latin. ne is often accompanied by other negatives rather than used alone. Double, triple, and quadruple negatives are common: I ne oght no man noght ("I haven't owed anything to anyone," literally "I not owed no one nothing").
ne usually immediately precedes the verb; compare nought / nat, which usually follows it.
Related terms
never
non
nought
Descendants
English: ne(obsolete)
Scots: ne(obsolete)
References
“ne, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Conjunction
ne
nor (and not, or (not), not)
lest (in case, before)
than (introducing a basis of comparison)
Usage notes
ne can contract with certain words that follow it, such as ne was → nas. This is optional, so forms like ne was are possible.
ne... ne... is often found in correlative constructions, with the meaning of not... or...; this is comparable to modern English neither... (n)or....
Descendants
English: ne(obsolete)
Scots: ne(obsolete)
References
“ne, conj.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
“ne, conj.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Middle French
Etymology 1
Alternative forms
n'
Adverb
ne
not (used to negate a verb)
Usage notes
As in modern French, may be used in combination with another adverb, such as ne... iamais, ne... pas, ne... gaire, ne... mie, ne... oncques, ne... poin(c)t and ne... rien(s), but such an adverb is not required.
Etymology 2
See ny
Conjunction
ne
Alternative form of ny(“neither; nor”)
Negerhollands
Verb
ne
take
References
Language Contact in the Danish West Indies (2012, →ISBN
Northern Kurdish
Etymology
From Proto-Iranian*na, from Proto-Indo-Iranian*na, from Proto-Indo-European*ne. Related to na.
Adverb
ne
not
Interjection
ne
no
Northern Ndebele
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu*-nàì.
Adjective
-ne
four
Inflection
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
nearm pl
Etymology
From Old Norseniðf, possibly from Proto-Germanic*nidwō(“sinking; downfall”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /neː/ (example of pronunciation)
Noun
nen (definite singularneet, indefinite pluralne, definite pluralnea)
a lunar phase of an old moon, i.e. period of time in which the moon is waning
Antonym:ny
Derived terms
i ny og ne
nemåne
References
“ne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Anagrams
en
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic*ne(“not”)
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Adverb
ne
not
Usage notes
Old English does not have do-support. Instead, ne is simply used by itself: Menn sweltaþ, ac hlīsa ne swilt ("People die, but reputation does not die").
Ne is placed immediately before the finite verb.
Ne negates verbs. Other parts of speech are negated with nā: Iċ eom lǣċe, nā forspennend ("I'm a doctor, not a pimp"), Iċ hīe fræġn "Hū wæs þīn færeld?" and hēo cwæþ "Nā yfel" ("I asked her 'How was your trip?' and she said 'Not bad'"). Nā is also used when the verb is only implied: Ne rēċe iċ hwæðer mē hwā ġelīefe þē nā ("I don't care if anyone believes me or not").
Ne and its accompanying verb often come at the beginning of a sentence: Ne meahte nān mann tōcnāwan hwelċes blēos hē wǣre ("Nobody could tell what color he was," literally "Couldn't nobody tell what color he was").
Old English has negative concord, meaning one negative doesn't cancel out another. Double, triple, and quadruple negatives are very common: Ne sċolde iċ nǣfre nānum menn nāwiht ("I've never owed anything to anyone," literally "I never not owed no one nothing").
In a few verbs beginning with a vowel, h, or w, ne actually fuses with the verb, creating nesan(“to not be”), nabban(“to not have”), nyllan(“to not want”), nytan(“to not know”), and nāgan(“to not own”). In the West Saxon dialect (the dialect of most surviving texts and sometimes referred to as "standard" Old English), the contracted forms are the norm, while in other dialects the uncontracted forms ne wesan, ne habban, etc. are also common.
Conjunction
ne
(in negative phrases) or, and not (optionally translated as "nor")
late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of The Consolation of Philosophy
ne... ne... is used to mean "[not...] or..." (optionally translated as "neither... nor...")
Usage notes
In the phrase "[not...] or...", ne is often used consecutively for "or": Iċ nāt ne ne rēċe hwelċes cynnes fugol hit sīe, hit is mīn frēond ("I don't know or care what kind of bird it is, it's my friend").
Descendants
Middle English: ne
Scots: ne
English: ne
Old French
Etymology
From Latinnec.
Adverb
ne
not; used to form negative constructions
Descendants
French: ne
Conjunction
ne
neither (not one or the other)
Descendants
French: ni
Old Frisian
Alternative forms
ni
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic*ne(“not”). Cognates include Old Englishne and Old Saxonne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ˈne/
Adverb
ne
not
Descendants
North Frisian:
Heligoland: ni
Conjunction
ne
nor
Particle
ne
no
Synonyms
nā
References
Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN
Old Saxon
Alternative forms
ni
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic*ne.
Adverb
ne
not
Descendants
Middle Low German: ne, en
Pali
Alternative forms
Adjective
ne
accusative plural masculine of na(“those”)
Pronoun
ne
accusative plural of na(“them, those”)
Phuthi
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu*-nàì.
Adjective
-ne
four
Inflection
This adjective needs an inflection-table template.
Rawang
Noun
ne
eye.
Romanian
Alternative forms
нє (pre-1860s Cyrillic form)
Etymology
From Vulgar Latinnīs, from Latinnos. Compare nă(old form) and Aromaniannã.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Pronoun
ne (unstressed accusative and reflexive form ofnoi)
(direct object, first-person plural) us
El ne urmează.
He's following us.
Related terms
noi (stressed accusative)
Pronoun
ne (unstressed dative and reflexive form ofnoi)
(indirect object) (to) us
Ele ne daucadouri.
They give us presents.
Related terms
nouă (stressed dative)
See also
ne-
vă
mă
te
se
Saterland Frisian
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nə/
Article
ne
Alternative form of n
Scots
Etymology
From Middle Englishne, from Old Englishne, from Proto-Germanic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /neɪ/, /nɛ/, /nə/, /n(ː)/
Adverb
ne
(archaic, rare) Not.
(A Northern English folk saying)
Conjunction
ne
(archaic, rare) Nor.
Usage notes
Ne is a negative particle and it is used preverbally, i.e. it is placed directly before a verb, for example,ː"What haps might chance me I ne knew" (William Fowler (makar), 1590) and "To suffer exile he said that he ne couth" (Gavin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneid, 1513). Now archaic and chiefly dialectal, it is still understood and used by a few rural speakers in Scotland and Northern England.
As a conjunction, it is placed immediately before the word it negates as inː ne mickle, ne little; Twas ne man, ne woman.. ne beast; ne rich, ne poor, ne bold, ne meek, ne stong, ne weak can escape God's wrath.
In urban areas and cities became displaced by na or nae.
Further reading
“ne” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ne/
Particle
ne (Cyrillic spellingне)
not (denoting negation)
Interjection
ne (Cyrillic spellingне)
no
Synonyms
jok(dialectal)
Antonyms
da
Slovene
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic*ne, from Proto-Indo-European*ne.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /nɛ́/, /nɛ/
Particle
nȅ
not (negates meaning of verb)
no (expresses disapproval, disagreement)
Antonyms
(no):dà, já
Further reading
“ne”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
Southern Ndebele
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu*-nàì.
Adjective
-ne
four
Inflection
This adjective needs an inflection-table template.
Swazi
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu*-nàì.
Adjective
-ne
four
Inflection
Turkish
Etymology 1
From Ottoman Turkishنه (ne, “what, whatever, how”), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (ne, “what”), from Proto-Turkic*nē-(“what”). The only Turkic root beginning with /n/. The earliest PT form must have contained a unique initial nasal, having yielded specific reflexes in modern languages.