"N" Word Origins

Inherited from Middle English nutriment, from Latin nūtrīmentum.

Borrowed via French nutrition from Latin nutritio, related to nutrire, "to nourish".

From nutrition plus the adjective-forming suffix -al.

From nutrition plus -ist, "a person who".

A learned borrowing from Latin nutritius, related to nutrire, "to nourish".

From nut + sack.

From Middle English notschelle, from Old English hnutu ("nut") plus sciell ("shell").

From nut (in the sense "crazy person") plus the agent suffix -er.

From nut plus the adjective suffix -y.

The verb is derived from Middle English noselen (“to bend down”); further etymology uncertain, possibly: * a back-formation from noseling, noselyng (“on the back, supine; with the face downward, prone”, adverb), from nose (“nose”) (from Old English nosu, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s (“nose”)) + -ling, -lyng (suffix forming adverbs denoting direction, manner, or position); or * from nose (see above) + -el, -elen (diminutive or frequentative suffix) (in which case the English word is, by surface analysis, nose + -le (frequentative suffix)). Etymology 1, verb sense 2.3 (“to settle or lie comfortably and snugly”) is possibly influenced by nestle or nursle (frequentative of nurse). The noun is derived from the verb. Compare nozzle.

An initialism of "never mind".

An initialism of NVM Express, itself from non-volatile memory, with express marking the interface's high speed.

Uncertain. Assertions of its universality among children regardless of culture or parent tongue are likely false.

From Danish ny ("new") + borg ("fortress").

A respelling of "nice," where the letter "y" stands in for a long "i" sound, as in older English spelling conventions.

From nychthemeron + -al.

Traced back through French nid to Latin nidus, meaning "nest" — the same root that gives English "nest" and "nidus."

Borrowed from Russian нет (net), meaning "no".

Coined by the DuPont company in 1938; the exact origin of the syllable "nyl-" is disputed, but it was joined to the fibre-name ending "-on" seen in rayon and Dacron.

From Old French nimphe and Latin nympha, from Ancient Greek nymphe, meaning "bride" or "young woman".

Learned borrowing from Latin nymphaeum, from Ancient Greek νυμφαῖον (numphaîon), a substantivisation of νυμφαῖος (numphaîos, “sacred to the nymphs”), from νύμφη (númphē, “nymph”).

From nymph + -et (“diminutive”), first attested 1612. The second sense was popularized by Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita.

A clipped form of nymphomaniac.

From Greek nymphē, 'bride' or 'nymph', and mania, 'madness' or 'frenzy', by way of modern Latin nymphomania.

From nymphomania plus -ac, ultimately combining Greek nymphe ("bride") with mania ("madness").

From Ancient Greek Νύξ (Núx), meaning "night."