nen

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nen"

Languages (24)

Translingual • English

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Abinomn • Ahtna • Ainu • Albanian • Catalan • Cornish • Dutch • German • Haitian Creole • Japanese • Ladin • Mandarin • Middle Low German • Old French • Old Frisian • Old Galician-Portuguese • Old Saxon • Spanish • Sranan Tongo • Tanacross • Volapük • Welsh

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Nengone.

Symbol

nen

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Nengone.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Nengone terms

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Pronoun

nen

1. (Geordie) none

Anagrams

• NNE

Abinomn

Noun

nen

1. elder brother

Ahtna

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ŋʸən.

Pronoun

nen

1. second-person singular pronoun; you

See also

Ahtna independent pronouns

	singular	plural
1st person	sii	naene
2nd person	nen	xanyuu, nuxon
3rd person human	yen	yene
3rd person non-human	yii
Reflexive	dii	kaydii

References

• Kari, James (1990), Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 35

Ainu

Etymology

From ne (“interrogatory root”) +‎ n (“person”). See nep, nekon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ne̞n]

Pronoun

nen (Kana spelling ネン)

1. (interrogative) who

Synonyms

• hunna

See also

Ainu interrogative pronouns

Personal			Qualitative	Quantitative	Temporal	Spacial
what?	who?	which?	what kind of? how?	how many?	when?	where?
hemanta, nep	hunna, nen	inan	mak, makanak, nekon	henpak	henpara	hunak

Albanian

Etymology 1

Variant of nyjë, nye (“article; joint”), whose stem was originally nen-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnen/
• Rhymes: -en

Noun

nen m (plural nene, definite neni, definite plural nenet)

1. paragraph, article, section, clause (of a law, statute or contract)
2. (regional) ankle

   Synonyms: nyell, sy, noçkë

References

• FGJSSH (1980), page 1226b: “nen,~i¹”, “nen,~i²”
• Çabej SE, pages 377f.: “nye”

Etymology 2

Adverb

nên

1. Gheg form of nën

References

• Mann (1948), page 314a: “nên”
• Bashkimi (1908), page 289a: “nên”; Jungg (1895), page 90a: “nnen” → “nen”
• Rossi (1875), page 907b: “nnèn”; Meyer (1891), page 299: “ndɛ” → “nnęn”

Etymology 3

Akin to nenë (“amaranth”) and nenexhik (“mint”), ultimately from Ottoman Turkish نانه (nane, “mint”).

Noun

nên m (dialectal, Lezhë)

1. fragrant plant, perhaps thyme, or mint

References

• Mann (1948), page 314a: “nên”

Catalan

Alternative forms

• nin (Mallorca)

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *ninnus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈnɛn]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈnen]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

nen m (plural nens, feminine nena, feminine plural nenes)

1. boy, male child

   Synonym: nano

Further reading

• “nen”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “nen”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “nen” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “nen” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cornish

Etymology

Cognate with Breton nein.

Noun

nen m (plural nenyow)

1. ceiling

References

• “nen” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

nen

1. (Brabant) alternative form of ne

   nen boom

   a tree

Usage notes

See usage notes at ne.

German

Article

nen

1. nonstandard form of 'n

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French nez (“nose”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛ̃/

Noun

nen

1. nose

Japanese

Romanization

nen

1. Rōmaji transcription of ねん

Ladin

Pronoun

nen

1. some

Mandarin

Romanization

nen

1. nonstandard spelling of nèn

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Low German

Etymology

Probably shortened from Old Saxon nihen (“not one”).

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ê²
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /nɛːn/

Article

nên

1. no, none; used and inflected in the same way as the article ên.
   • ca. 1485, author unknown, Van deme quaden thyra̅ne Dracole wyda., published by Bartholomaeus Gothan, verso of the 5th sheet:

     Gy ſynt de ſnodeſte vn̅ de groteſte thiran. den men vinden mach in alle der werlnde_[sic]. vn̅ ik hebbe nene̅ minſche̅ ny gheſeen noch ghehort de iuw ye wat gudes na ſecht heft.

     You are the vilest and greatest tyrant that one might find in all the world, and I have not seen nor heard one human, that has ever said a good thing about you.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin nōn (“not”), with the -n surviving intervocalically.

Adverb

nen

1. (before vowels) alternative form of ne (“not”)
   • c. 1150, Turoldus, La Chanson de Roland‎^[2], lines 7–9:

     Li reis Marsilie la tient, ki Deu nen aimet; / Mahumet sert e Apollin recleimet: / Nes poet guarder que mals ne l'i ateignet.

     The king Marsile rules it [Zaragoza], [he] who doesn't love God; he worships Mohammed and prays to Apollin: he cannot escape from the evil that approaches him.

Usage notes

Mainly used to metric reasons in poems, to gain a syllable.

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• nān

Etymology

Blend of ne (“not”) +‎ ēn (“one”). Akin to Old English nān.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈneːn/, [ˈnɛːn]

Determiner

nēn

1. no, not one

Pronoun

nēn

1. none, no-one, nobody

Descendants

• North Frisian: nån, neen, niin
• Saterland Frisian: neen, naan
• West Frisian: neen

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin nec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnẽ/

Adverb

nen

1. not even (introduces an emphatic negation or exclusion)
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 30 (facsimile):

     Nen ela outroſſi anos de nõ pode Se deus Maiude dizer q̇ nõ rogue de coraçõ

     Not even she can’t tell us, if God helps me, that one shouldn’t beg heartily

Conjunction

nen

1. nor (introduces each except the first term of a series, indicating that none of them is true)
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 6 (facsimile):

     Porend a ſant eſcritura que non mente nen erra nos conta un gn̈ miragre que fez en Engra terra. A uirgen ſanta maria.

     However, the Holy Scripture, which doesn’t lie nor err, tells of a great miracle that Virgin Holy Mary worked in England.

Descendants

• Fala: nin
• Galician: nin
• Portuguese: nem

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• neen
• nian
• nein

Etymology

By surface analysis, a contraction of ne + en.

Determiner

nēn

1. no, not one

Interjection

nen

1. no
   • 9th c. Heliand, verse 1522-1523

     ...queđe iā, gef it sī, [geha] thes thār wār is, queđe nēn, af it nis, [lāta] im genōg an thiu;...

     ...say yes, if it be, confess of that where the truth is, say no, if it is not, let enough (for) him in that;...

Antonyms

• ja

References

Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch‎^[3] (in German), 5th edition

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnen/ [ˈnẽn]
• Rhymes: -en
• Syllabification: nen

Conjunction

nen

1. obsolete form of ni (“neither, nor”)

Further reading

• “nen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English name.

Noun

nen

1. name

Derived terms

• deinen

Tanacross

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ŋʸən.

Pronoun

nen

1. you (singular)

References

• Arnold, Irene Solomon, Holton, Gary, and Thoman, Rick (2009), Tanacross Learners' Dictionary, Alaska Native Knowledge Network

Volapük

Preposition

nen

1. without

Welsh

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

nen f (plural nennau or nennoedd, not mutable)

1. heaven

Synonyms

• nef

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “nen”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies