"N" Word Origins

Nazarene

Greek

From Greek Nazarenos, "of Nazareth," referring to the town where Jesus grew up.

Nazareth

Hebrew

From Hebrew natzrat, of uncertain deeper origin.

Nazi

German · 1930

A German clipping of Nationalsozialist ("National Socialist"), first used around 1930; the coincidental resemblance to "Nazi" as an old nickname for the name Ignaz may have made the abbreviation stick as an insult.

nazim

Arabic

From Urdu, ultimately from Arabic nazim, "organizer" or "administrator."

nazir

Arabic

From Persian/Arabic nazir, related to nazr, "vow" or "oversight."

Nazism

Origin

Formed from "Nazi" plus the suffix -ism.

NB

Latin

In the first sense, an abbreviation of Latin nota bene, 'note well'; in the second, an initialism of non-binary.

NBA

English

An initialism of National Basketball Association.

NBD

English

An initialism of no big deal.

nbs

English

An initialism, most commonly of 'no bullshit'.

nd

English

The last two letters of the word second, written after the numeral.

NDA

English

An initialism of non-disclosure agreement.

ne

Old English

From Old English ne, "not," from a common Germanic and Indo-European negative particle.

Neal

Irish

From Irish Niall via the surname/given name tradition.

Neanderthal

German · 1856

Named after the Neander Valley in Germany, where the first fossils were discovered in 1856. The valley itself was named for 17th-century hymn writer Joachim Neander.

neanderthalian

Origin

From Neanderthal + -ian.

neap

Origin

Perhaps of Scandinavian origin: compare dialectal Norwegian neip (“forked pole”).

neapolis

Origin

From Latin Neapolis, from Ancient Greek Νεάπολις (Neápolis), from νέα (néa, “new”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”). Equivalent to neo- + -polis. Doublet of Nabeul, Nablus, Naples, Napoli, and Neapoli.

Neapolitan

Ancient Greek

From Latin Neapolitanus, from Greek Neapolis, "new city" — the ancient Greek name for Naples.

near

Old English

From Old English nēar, originally the comparative of "nigh" ("close"). Over time "near" took over as the plain adjective, while "nigh" became old-fashioned.

nearby

Middle English

From Middle English ner-bi, formed from near + by.

Nearing

German

Anglicized spelling of German Niering.

nearly

Origin

From near + the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

nearness

Origin

From Middle English nernes, equivalent to near + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian nearens (“nearness”).

nearshore

Origin

From near + shore.

nearside

Origin

near + side

nearsighted

English

A compound of near and sighted, describing sight that works only at near range.

neat

Latin

From Old French net ("clean, clear"), from Latin nitidus ("gleaming, shining").

neaten

Origin

From neat + -en.

neath

Old English

A contraction of "beneath," from Old English neoþan.

neatly

Origin

From neat + -ly.

neb

Old English

From Old English nebb ("beak, nose, face"), related to modern German Schnabel ("beak").

Nebuchadnezzar

Origin

Named after Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonian king from the Bible, following the tradition of naming huge bottle sizes after biblical and historical kings.

nebula

Latin

From Latin nebula, meaning "little cloud" or "mist."

nebulosity

Origin

From Latin nebulōsitās.

nebulous

Origin

Inherited from Middle English nebulous, from Middle French nebuleus, from Latin nebulōsus (“full of mist, foggy, cloudy”), from nebula (“mist, vapour, cloud”), from Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos (“cloud, vapor, fog, moist, sky”). By surface analysis, nebula + -ous. More at neveling, nuel. Cognates * Ancient Greek νέφος (néphos, “cloud”) * German Nebel ** Old High German nebul (“cloud, fog”) * Old English nifol, neowol (“dark, gloomy, obscure, precipitous, prone”)

necessarily

Origin

From necessary + -ly.

necessarium

Origin

From Latin necessarium (“reredorter; outhouse”), from necesse (“unavoidable or necessary [thing]”) + -ārium (“-arium, -ium: forming locations”).

necessary

Latin

From Old French necessaire, from Latin necessārius ("unavoidable, required"), related to cēdere ("to yield" or "withdraw") — the same root found in "cede."

necessitate

Origin

From earlier necessitat, from Medieval Latin necessitātus, perfect past participle of necessitō (“to make necessary”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)), from Classical Latin necessitās (“necessity, need”) + -ō. Necessitās is derived from necesse (“unavoidable”) (from ne- (“not”) + cessus (“conceded, given up, yielded”). By surface analysis, necessitō + -ate.

necessitous

Origin

From necessity + -ous, after Middle French nécessiteux.

necessitude

Origin

From Latin necessitūdō, from necesse + -tūdō, from ne- + cessus.

necessity

Latin

From Latin necessitās, from necesse ("unavoidable") — the same root as "necessary."

neck

Old English

From Old English hnecca ("neck, nape"), from a Proto-Germanic root also seen in Dutch nek and German Nacken.

neckband

Origin

From neck + band.

neckerchief

Origin

From Middle English nekkyrchefe, neckercheve, equivalent to neck + kerchief.

necklace

Origin

From neck + lace.

neckline

Origin

From neck + line.