nous
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Ancient Greek νοῦς (noûs) or νόος (nóos, “mind”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
nous (uncountable)
- (philosophy) The mind or intellect, reason, both rational and emotional
- 1900, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, On the Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in all Classes
- I feel the will to roam, to learn
- By test, experience, nous,
- That fire is hot and ocean deep,
- And wolves carnivorous.
- 1900, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, On the Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in all Classes
- In Neoplatonism, the divine reason, regarded as first divine emanation.
- Common sense; practical intelligence.
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Catalan[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adjective[edit]
nous
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
nous
Etymology 3[edit]
Noun[edit]
nous
Etymology 4[edit]
Verb[edit]
nous
- second-person singular present indicative form of noure
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle French nous, from Old French nous, nos, from Latin nōs, from Proto-Italic *nōs.
In several dialects of French, je may be used instead of nous (j'allons instead of nous allons, je voyons instead of nous voyons etc.), this use was perceived as peasant-like and thus often mocked since the 15th century (for example by Molière). However this use survived and spread in various regions of the so-called domaine d'oïl (linguistic area starting above Auvergne where the oïl varieties of Romance developed from the 4th or 5th century). The regions of France where this use of je (from Latin ego "I") instead of nous, nos (from Latin nos, "we") was recorded are Normandy, Romance-speaking Brittany, Poitou and Anjou, Champagne, Ardennes, Bourgogne and Franche-Comté, Dauphiné, Berry, Touraine, Orléanais, Bourbonnais, Maine. See cognates in regional languages in France: Angevin je and nous, Bourbonnais-Berrichon je and nous, Bourguignon i and nous, Champenois ju and nous, Franc-Comtois i and nôs, Gallo je and nouz, Lorrain nos, Norman je and nos, Orléanais je and nous, Picard nos, Poitevin-Saintongeais jhe and nous, Tourangeau je and nous, Franco-Provençal nos, Occitan nosautres (Provençal nousautes), Catalan nosaltres, Corsican noi.
Pronoun[edit]
nous
- The plural personal pronoun in the first person:
Related terms[edit]
Number | Person | Gender | Nominative (subject) |
Reflexive | Accusative (direct complement) |
Dative (indirect complement) |
Locative (at) |
Genitive (of) |
Disjunctive (tonic) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | First | — | je, j’ | me, m’ | — | — | moi | ||
Second | — | tu | te, t’ | — | — | toi | |||
Third | Masculine | il | se, s’ | le, l’ | lui | y | en | lui, soi | |
Feminine | elle | la, l’ | elle, soi | ||||||
— | on | — | — | — | — | soi | |||
Plural | First | — | nous | nous | — | — | nous | ||
Second | — | vous | vous | — | — | vous | |||
Third | Masculine | ils | se, s’ | les | leur | y | en | eux, soi | |
Feminine | elles | elles, soi |
Etymology 2[edit]
From Ancient Greek νοῦς (noûs) or νόος (nóos, “mind”).
Noun[edit]
nous m (plural nous)
Further reading[edit]
- “nous” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French nous.
Pronoun[edit]
nous
Descendants[edit]
- French: nous
Old French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Pronoun[edit]
nous
- Alternative form of nos
Picard[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old French nous.
Pronoun[edit]
nous
- English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 1-syllable words
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- en:Philosophy
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- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- French terms derived from Proto-Italic
- French lemmas
- French pronouns
- French terms derived from Ancient Greek
- French nouns
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- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
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- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French lemmas
- Old French pronouns
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- Picard terms inherited from Old French
- Picard terms derived from Old French
- Picard lemmas
- Picard pronouns