nee

See also: Nee, née, neé, and ñee

English

WOTD – 15 December 2011

Etymology 1

From French née, feminine of né, past participle of naître, to be born.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neɪ/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: nay, neigh, né, Neagh

Adjective

nee (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of née

Usage notes

• As it is not a naturalised word in English, nee is often italicised.

Etymology 2

From Old English ne or nā (“no”). Cognate with Standard English no.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophone: knee

Interjection

nee

1. (Geordie) no, used to express no as a quantity, i.e. not any, like German kein/Dutch geen/French rien. Compare with na.

   Nee way man! ― No way

   Thor's nee watter! ― There's no water!

Anagrams

• -een, -ene, ENE, e'en, een

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Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈneː/ [ˈneː]
• Hyphenation: nee

Pronoun

née

1. Preconsonantal form of né

References

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN, page 237
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch nee, from Middle Dutch neen, nee, from Old Dutch *nēn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niəː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Particle

nee

1. no

Anagrams

• een

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• neen

Etymology

From Middle Dutch neen, nee, from Old Dutch *nēn (“none, not one”), from *ne ēn, from Proto-Germanic *ne + *ainaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neː/
  • IPA^(key): [neː]
  • IPA^(key): [neɪ]

• audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nee
• Rhymes: -eː

Adverb

nee

1. no
   • 1992, A. F. Th. van der Heijden, Weerborstels, Em. Querido's Uitgeverij, page 23:

     Nee, de stemming zat er goed in.

     No, the atmosphere was great.

Usage notes

• Nee is used to show disagreement or negation.

  Nee, je vergist je. ― No, you are mistaken.

  Nee, je mag nu geen televisie kijken ― No, you are not allowed to watch television now.

• Nee has an alternative form, neen. In Belgium, it functions as a stressed variant of nee. In the Netherlands, it is an archaic, formal form in spoken language, but was quite common in written language until recently.

Descendants

• Afrikaans: nee
• Javindo: nee
• Skepi Creole Dutch: ne

Anagrams

• een, één, ene

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Dutch Low Saxon

Etymology

Ultimately cognate to German nein.

Adverb

nee

1. (in some dialects) no

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Finnish

Finnish numbers ^(edit)

	40
[a], [b] ←  3	4	5  →
Cardinal: neljä     Colloquial counting form: nee, nel     Ordinal: neljäs     Colloquial ordinal: nelkki (regional)     Ordinal abbreviation: 4., 4:s     Digit name: nelonen     Adverbial: neljästi     Multiplier: nelinkertainen     Distributive: nelittäin     Fractional: neljäsosa, neljännes
Finnish Wikipedia article on 4

Numeral

nee

1. (colloquial) four

See also

• neljä (“four”)

Anagrams

• een

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German

Alternative forms

• ne

Etymology

Of dialectal origin, particularly Low German nee. Cognate to Dutch nee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Interjection

1. (colloquial, regional) Alternative form of nein (“no”)

Usage notes

• Nee is the most common colloquial word for “no” in northern and central Germany. It has also come to be used quite regularly in southern Germany, but is not used in Austria or Switzerland.

Further reading

• “nee” in Duden online
• “nee” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

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Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neː/

Adverb

nee

1. no

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

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Low German

Etymology 1

Ultimately cognate to German nein, Dutch nee and neen, English no and none.

Alternative forms

• nei, nää, nä (Low Prussian)
• ne, neh, nej (various dialects)

Adverb

nee

1. (in some dialects) no

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German nîe, nige, neye, nîwe, from Old Saxon niuwi, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *néwos (“new”). Compare Dutch nieuw, West Frisian nij, English new, German neu.

Alternative forms

• ni, nie, nige, nig

Adjective

nee (comparative ne'er, superlative neest)

1. new

Declension

Positive forms of nee

gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		he is nee	se is nee	dat is nee	se sünd nee
partitive		een Ne'es	een Ne'es	wat Ne'es	allens Ne'e
strong declension (without article)	nominative	ne'e	ne'e	nee	ne'e
	oblique	ne'en	ne'e	nee	ne'e
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	de ne'e	de ne'e	dat ne'e	de ne'en
	oblique	den ne'en	de ne'e	dat ne'e	de ne'en
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	en ne'e/ne'en	en ne'e	en nee/ne'et	(keen) ne'en
	oblique	en ne'en	en ne'e	en nee/ne'et	(keen) ne'en

Comparative forms of nee

gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		he is ne'er	se is ne'er	dat is ne'er	se sünd ne'er
partitive		een ne'ers	een ne'ers	wat ne'ers	allens ne'er
strong declension (without article)	nominative	ne'ere	ne'ere	ne'er	ne'ere
	oblique	ne'ern	ne'ere	ne'er	ne'ere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	de ne'ere	de ne'ere	dat ne'ere	de ne'ern
	oblique	den ne'ern	de ne'ere	dat ne'ere	de ne'ern
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	en ne'ere/ne'eren	en ne'ere	en ne'er	(keen) ne'ern
	oblique	en ne'ern	en ne'ere	en ne'er	(keen) ne'ern

Superlative forms of nee

gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		he is de Neeste	se is de Neeste	dat is dat Neeste	se sünd de Neesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	neeste	neeste	neest	neeste
	oblique	neesten	neeste	neest	neeste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	de neeste	de neeste	dat neeste	de neesten
	oblique	den neesten	de neeste	dat neeste	de neesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	en neeste/neesten	en neeste	en neest	(keen) neesten
	oblique	en neesten	en neeste	en neest	(keen) neesten

Note: This declension is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.

Derived terms

• Neeheit

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Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

nee

1. Alternative form of neen

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Manx

Etymology 1

From Old Irish do·gní.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nʲiː/

Verb

nee

1. future independent analytic form of jean

   Nee eh jannoo eh. ― He will do it. (literally, “He will do do it.”)

   Quoi nee eh agh mish? ― Who will do it but me?

Etymology 2

From Old Irish ní.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nʲeː/

Particle

nee

1. negative and interogative form of she

   Nee uss y fer lhee? ― Are you the doctor?

   Cha nee eshyn ren eh. ― It's not him that did it.

See also

• re (dependent form used with dy, nagh)

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Muna

Etymology

Cognate with Balantak ngoor.

Noun

nee

1. nose

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Navajo

Postposition

nee

1. with you, by means of you

Inflection

Navajo postpositions

	singular	duoplural
1st person	shee	nihee
2nd person	nee	nihee
3rd person	bee
4th person (3o)	yee
4th person (3a)	hee
4th person (3i)	ee	—
reflexive	ádee	—
reciprocal	—	ahee

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Pennsylvania German

Interjection

nee

1. no

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West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neː/

Interjection

nee

1. no

Further reading

• “nee”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011