никъто

Old Church Slavonic

Alternative forms

• никто (nikto)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *nikъto.

Pronoun

никъто • (nikŭto)

1. (indefinite pronoun) nobody, no one

Declension

	Singular
nominative	никъто
genitive	никого
dative	никомоу
accusative	никого
instrumental	ницѣмь
locative	никомь

Synonyms

• никътоже (nikŭtože)

Related terms

• къто (kŭto)

Old East Slavic

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *nikъto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnikʊtɔ/→/ˈnʲikʊtɔ/→/ˈnʲiktɔ/

• (ca. 9^th CE) IPA^(key): /ˈnikʊtɔ/
• (ca. 11^th CE) IPA^(key): /ˈnʲikʊtɔ/
• (ca. 13^th CE) IPA^(key): /ˈnʲiktɔ/

Pronoun

никъто (nikŭto)

1. nobody, no one
2. (with negative) anybody, anyone
   • XI-XIII c., The Tale of Akira the Wise:

     ащε что слышиши, не повѣдаи никомꙋ.

     aščε čto slyšiši, ne povědai nikomu.

     If thou hearst something, don't tell anyone.

Declension

Declension of никъто

nominative	никъто nikŭto
genitive	никого nikogo
dative	никому nikomu
accusative	никого nikogo
instrumental	ницѣмь nicěmĭ
locative	никомь nikomĭ

Descendants

• Belarusian: ніхто́ (nixtó)
• Russian: никто́ (niktó), нихто́ (nixtó) (regional)
• Carpathian Rusyn: нихто (nyxto), нико (nyko)
• Ukrainian: ніхто́ (nixtó)

References

• Zaliznjak, Andrej A. (2019), “Drevnerusskoje udarenije: Obščije svedenija i slovarʹ.”, in Languages of Slavic Culture‎^[1] (in Russian), Moscow: Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, page 523: “ни́кто ― níkto”