non-

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: non, nón, nőn, and Non.

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English non- (“not, lack of, failure to”), from Middle English non (“no, not any; not, not at all”, literally “none”) and Old English nān- (prefix), both from Old English nān (“no, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“none, nought, zero”), see none. Merged with and reinforced by Middle English non- (“not”), from Old French non- and Medieval Latin nōn (“not”), from Old Latin noinu, noinom, from ne oinom (“not one”).

Prefix[edit]

non-

  1. Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed.
    nonpayment (“lack of payment, failure to pay”)
    nonaggressive (“not aggressive”)
Usage notes[edit]
  • Non- may be attached to nouns (nonspace), adjectives (nonaggressive), adverbs (nonaggressively, nonstop), or—infrequently—even verbs (nontender).
  • Non- may be joined to a word with a hyphen, standard in British usage as evidenced by OED's typically including only the hyphenated forms, but some OED entries are spelled without hyphen only. In American usage, non- is often joined without a hyphen. (For example, nonbaseball is relatively common, but noncricket, referring to a primarily British sport, is rare.) Some non- words rarely or never use a hyphen (such as nonentity). By contrast, un- is almost always spelled without a hyphen. GPO manual item 6.29. recommends to spell non- prefixed words without a hyphen unless an overriding consideration applies.[1]
  • For combinations with capitalized words such as proper nouns and some adjectives, hyphen is almost always used, e.g. non-Aristotelian or non-English. This matches GPO manual recommendation.[1]
  • Semantically, non- suggests objective quality and logical opposition (hence ungradable), whereas un- suggests subjective quality and polar/diametric opposition (often gradable).
  • Meaning "not" in phrases taken from Latin and some other languages, non is a separate word and is not hyphenated: non compos mentis, persona non grata.
  • As non- is a living and highly productive prefix, the list of words having the prefix non- is practically unlimited: Wiktionary currently has over 9000 such word forms. It is particularly common in the sciences.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
English terms prefixed with non-
Related terms[edit]
Related terms
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Latin nona (“nine”).

Prefix[edit]

non-

  1. prevocalic form of nona-
Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 6. Compounding Rules in U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, govinfo.gov

Further reading[edit]

Danish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈnʌn/, /ˈnʌnˀ/, /nʌnˈ/

Prefix[edit]

non-

  1. non-

Derived terms[edit]

Danish terms prefixed with non-

References[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Prefix[edit]

non-

  1. (organic chemistry) non-

Derived terms[edit]

Dutch terms prefixed with non-

See also[edit]

Indonesian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English non-, from Middle English non- (“not, lack of, failure to”), from Middle English non (“no, not any; not, not at all”, literally “none”), from Old English nān (“no, not any”), see none. Merged with and reinforced by Middle English non- (“not”), from Old French non- and Medieval Latin nōn (“not”), from Old Latin noinu, noinom, from ne oinom (“not one”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈnɔn]
  • Hyphenation: non

Prefix[edit]

non-

  1. non-: Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed.

Derived terms[edit]

Indonesian terms prefixed with non-

Further reading[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=non-&oldid=75964306"