nadir

See also: Nadir

English

WOTD – 23 September 2006

Etymology

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪ.dɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈnæ.dɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈneɪ.də(ɹ)/, /neɪˈdɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪ.dɪɹ/, /ˈneɪ.dəɹ/, /neɪˈdɪɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

nadir (plural nadirs)

Diagram showing the relationship between the zenith, the nadir, and different types of horizon. Nadir is opposite the zenith.

1. The point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon; point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where we stand.
   • 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:

     […] when we are Nadyr to the Sunne, we have no ſhadow […]

2. (figuratively) The lowest point; time of greatest depression.
   • 1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries:

     […] the seventh century is the nadir of the human mind in Europe […]

   • 1950, Elizabeth Janeway, in Helen Hull (editor), The Writer’s Book:

     In this nadir of poetic repute, when the only verse that most people read from one year’s end to the next is what appears on greetings cards, it is well for us to stop and consider our poets.

3. (astronomy) The axis of a projected conical shadow; the direction of the force of gravity at a location; down.

   The nadir of the sun is the axis of the shadow projected by the Earth.

4. (beekeeping, archaic) An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.

References

• 1860, Henry Taylor, The Beekeepers Manual, page 24.

Synonyms

• (lowest point): lowest ebb, slough of despond, trough, bathos

Antonyms

• (point of heavens opposite the zenith): zenith
• (lowest point): height, peak
• (beekeeping): duplet, super

Related terms

• azimuth, zenith - (both from السَّمْتُ (as-samtu)).

Translations

point of the sky

• Arabic: نَظِير (ar) m (naẓīr)
• Armenian: նադիր (hy) (nadir)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天底 (zh) (tiāndǐ)

• Dutch: nadir (nl) n
• Finnish: nadiiri (fi)
• French: nadir (fr) m
• German: Nadir (de) m
• Hungarian: nadír, talppont

• Italian: nadir (it) m
• Japanese: 天底 (てんてい, tentei)
• Malay: nadir
• Persian: نظیرالسمت (fa) (nazir-os-samt), سمت‌القدم (samt-ol-qadam)
• Polish: nadir (pl) m
• Portuguese: nadir (pt) m
• Russian: нади́р (ru) m (nadír)
• Spanish: nadir m
• Tagalog: idalum

figuratively the lowest point

• Arabic: نَظِير (ar) m (naẓīr)
• Finnish: aallonpohja (fi)
• French: fond (fr) m
• Hungarian: mélypont (hu)
• Japanese: どん底 (どんぞこ, donzoko)

• Persian: قعر (fa) (qa'r)
• Portuguese: nadir (pt) m
• Russian: ни́зший у́ровень m (nízšij úrovenʹ)
• Swedish: lågvattenmärke (sv) (slightly informal)
• Turkish: ayak ucu (tr)

axis of projected conical shadow

• Arabic: نَظِير (ar) m (naẓīr)

Verb

nadir (third-person singular simple present nadirs, present participle nadiring, simple past and past participle nadired)

1. (transitive, beekeeping) To extend (a beehive) by adding an empty box at the base.

Anagrams

• Darin, dinar, drain, Drina, Indra, Ndari, ranid

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French

Etymology

As for the English word.

Noun

nadir m (plural nadirs)

1. (astronomy) nadir

Antonyms

• zénith

Anagrams

• radin

Further reading

• “nadir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Etymology

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).

Pronunciation

• nadìr, IPA^(key): /naˈdir/

Noun

nadir m

1. (astronomy) nadir

Antonyms

• zenit

Anagrams

• nardi

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Portuguese

Noun

nadir m (plural nadires)

1. nadir (point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where the observer stands)
2. (figuratively) nadir (the lowest point)

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Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic نادر

Adjective

nadir (comparative daha nadir, superlative en nadir)

1. rare

Synonyms

• ender