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"N" Word Origins

Where do words come from? Trace the origin and history of any English word, from its Latin, Greek or Old English roots through to its modern meaning. Every etymology is sourced.

“N” Word Origins

newsgathering
Origin
From news + gathering.
newshound
Origin
From news + hound.
newsletter
Origin
A straightforward compound of "news" and "letter."
newsman
Origin
From "news" plus "man."
Newsome
Old English
After one or more places so named in Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, and Yorkshire, from Old English (æt þǣm) nīwe hūsum (“(at the) new houses”).
newspaper
Origin
From "news" plus "paper," reflecting its original printed format.
newspaperman
Origin
From "newspaper" plus "man."
newspaperwoman
Origin
From newspaper + woman.
newsperson
Origin
From news + person.
newsprint
Origin
From news + print.
newsreader
Origin
From "news" plus "reader."
newsreel
Origin
From "news" plus "reel," referring to a reel of film.
newsroom
Origin
From "news" plus "room."
newsstand
Origin
From "news" plus "stand."
newsworthy
Origin
From "news" plus "-worthy," meaning deserving of.
newswriter
Origin
From news + writer.
newt
Middle English
Formed by a historical misdivision: Middle English "an ewte" was mistakenly split as "a newt" — the same kind of shift that gave us "a nickname" from "an ekename."
newton
Origin · 1948
The unit of force was named in 1948 after Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist who formulated the laws of motion.
next
Old English
From Old English nīehsta, the superlative of nēah ("nigh, near") — so "next" originally meant literally "nearest."
nexus
Latin
From Latin nexus, "a binding together, connection," from the verb nectere, "to tie or bind."
ney
Persian
Borrowed from Persian ney, meaning "reed."
NFC
English
An initialism of near-field communication, describing the very short range over which the signal operates.
NFP
English
An initialism, standing variously for not-for-profit, natural family planning or non-farm payrolls.
NFT
English
An initialism of non-fungible token, where fungible means interchangeable with another of the same kind.
Ng
Origin
From various Chinese surnames, including: * Hokkien 黃 /黄 (N̂g) * Cantonese 吳 /吴 (ng⁴) and 伍 (ng⁵) The Philippine pronunciation is influenced by Tagalog ng.
Ngai
Origin
The Cantonese romanization of any of three different surnames: 魏 (ngai6), 倪 (ngai4), and 危 (ngai4).
Ngan
Origin
Borrowed from Cantonese 顏 /颜 (ngaan⁴).
NGF
English
An initialism of nerve growth factor.
ngl
English
An initialism of "not gonna lie".
Ngo
Origin
Borrowed from Vietnamese Ngô, from Hokkien 吳 /吴 (Ngô͘).
Nguyen
Origin
Borrowed from Vietnamese Nguyễn.
Ni
Chinese
* (Chinese surname): Borrowed from Chinese 郳 (ní), 倪 or 妮 (nī).
nia
Origin
From Hokkien niā, meaning "only."
niacinamide
English
From niacin plus amide, naming the amide form of that vitamin.
Niagara
Origin
From Niagara Falls, the famous waterfall on the border of Canada and the United States, whose name comes from an Iroquoian word meaning roughly "neck of land."
Niall
Irish
Borrowed from Irish Niall or Scottish Gaelic Niall, ultimately from Old Irish Níall, of uncertain original meaning. Suggestions include nél (“cloud”) and nïa (“champion”), which is from Proto-Indo-European *h₃neyd- (“to revile”). Doublet of Neil.
nib
Origin
From a variant of neb, perhaps due to association with nibble.
nibble
Middle English
From Late Middle English nebillen, "to peck away at something" — likely related to Low German words for eating in small bites.
nibbleable
Origin
From nibble + -able.
nibbles
Origin
From nibble plus the plural -s ending.
nibbling
Origin
From nibble plus the -ing ending.
nic
Origin
A shortened form of nicotine.
Nicaragua
Spanish
From Spanish Nicaragua, blending the name of the local chief Nicarao with the Spanish word agua ("water"), a nod to the country's large lakes.
nice
Latin
From Old French nice ("foolish, simple"), from Latin nescius ("ignorant"). The word originally meant "foolish" in English and has drifted through senses like "fussy" and "precise" to today's meaning of "pleasant" — one of the biggest meaning-flips in the English language.
nicely
Origin
From nice plus the adverb ending -ly.
niceness
Origin
From nice plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.
nicety
Origin
From Middle English nicetee, from Old French niceté (“simpleness, foolishness”), from nice (“simple, foolish”); equivalent to nice + -e- + -ty.
niche
Latin
Borrowed from French niche, related to nicher ("to nest"), ultimately from Latin nidus ("nest").