nameless

English

Etymology

From Middle English nameles, equivalent to name +‎ -less. Cognate with Dutch naamloos (“nameless”), German namenlos (“nameless”), Danish navnløs (“nameless”), Swedish namnlös (“nameless”), Icelandic nafnlaus (“nameless, anonymous”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

nameless (not comparable)

1. Not having a name; unnamed.
2. Whose name is unknown; unidentified or obscure; anonymous.
3. Unable to be described or expressed.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:indescribable

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Plain of Kôr”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 126:

     Minute grew into minute, and still there was no sign of life, nor did the curtain move; but I felt the gaze of the unknown being sinking through and through me, and filling me with a nameless terror, till the perspiration stood in beads upon my brow.

4. (dated, of a child) Illegitimate.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:illegitimate

   • 1953, James Baldwin, “Elizabeth’s Prayer”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Co., published October 1970, →OCLC, part 2 (The Prayers of the Saints), page 175:

     He said that he would cherish her until the grave, and that he would love her nameless son as though he were his own flesh.

Derived terms

• nameless bee disease
• nameless finger
• namelessly
• namelessness

 

Related terms

• no-name

Translations

having no name

• Armenian: անանուն (hy) (ananun)
• Belarusian: безыме́нны (bjezymjénny)
• Bengali: নামহীন (bn) (namohin), অনামা (bn) (onama)
• Bulgarian: бези́менен (bg) (bezímenen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無名／无名 (zh) (wúmíng)

• Czech: nepojmenovaný m, bezejmenný (cs) m
• Danish: navnløs
• Dutch: naamloos (nl)
• Faroese: navnleysur
• Finnish: nimetön (fi)
• French: sans nom (fr), innomé (fr)
• Georgian: უსახელო (usaxelo)
• German: namenlos (de)
• Greek: χωρίς όνομα (chorís ónoma)

  Ancient: ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos)

• Hebrew: לְלֹא שֵׁם‎ (leló shem), בְּעִלּוּם שֵׁם‎ (be-ilúm shem), אָנוֹנִימִי‎ m
• Hungarian: névtelen (hu) m
• Icelandic: nafnlaus m, óþekktur (is) m
• Italian: innominato (it) m
• Japanese: 名無し (ななし, nanashi), 無名の (ja) (むめいの, mumei no)
• Kazakh: атсыз (atsyz), атаусыз (atausyz)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بێناو‎ (bênaw)

  Laki: بێنام‎ (bênam)

  Northern Kurdish: bênav (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: بێناو‎ (bênaw)

• Macedonian: безимен (bezimen)
• Manx: neuennymagh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: navnløs

  Nynorsk: namnlaus

• Old East Slavic: безименьнꙑи (bezimenĭnyi)
• Polish: bezimienny (pl)
• Portuguese: sem nome
• Russian: безымя́нный (ru) (bezymjánnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: неименован, бѐзимен

  Roman: neimenovan (sh), bèzimen (sh) m

• Slovak: bezmenný
• Slovene: brezimen
• Spanish: innominado, sin nombre
• Swedish: namnlös (sv)
• Turkish: adsız (tr), isimsiz (tr)
• Ukrainian: безіме́нний (uk) (beziménnyj)

Noun

the nameless

1. (obsolete) Vulva.

   Synonyms: name-it-not; see also Thesaurus:vulva

   • 1896, John Stephen Farmer, “Hérison”, in Vocabula Amatoria, page 156:

     Hérison, m. The female pudendum; ‘the nameless’.

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2023), “name-it-not n.”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang

Anagrams

• Sleemans, lameness, maleness, maneless, meanless, salesmen