nous

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See also: Nous

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek νοῦς (noûs) or νόος (nóos, mind).

Pronunciation

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
  • (US) enPR: noo͞s, IPA(key): /nuːs/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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nous (uncountable)

  1. (philosophy) The mind or intellect, reason, both rational and emotional
  2. In Neoplatonism, the divine reason, regarded as first divine emanation.
  3. Common sense; practical intelligence.
    • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Uniform edition, Edward Arnold, Part I, I, page 19:
      There is nothing original in absent-mindedness. True originality lies elsewhere. Really, the lower classes have no nous.
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Translations

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Adjective

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nous

  1. masculine plural of nou (new)

Etymology 2

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Noun

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nous

  1. plural of nou (nine)

Etymology 3

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Noun

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nous

  1. plural of nou (nut)

Etymology 4

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Verb

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nous

  1. second-person singular present indicative of noure

French

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited 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 i/jhe and nous, Franco-Provençal nos, Occitan nosautres (Provençal nousautes), Catalan nosaltres, Corsican noi.

Pronoun

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nous (first-person plural, singular je, object nous, emphatic nous, possessive determiner notre)

  1. the plural personal pronoun in the first person:
    1. (subject pronoun) we.
      Synonym: on (informal)
    2. (object pronoun) us, to us.
  2. (royal, historical) we (as the royal we)
Derived terms
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See also
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Etymology 2

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From Ancient Greek νοῦς (noûs) or νόος (nóos, mind).

Noun

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nous m (plural nous)

  1. the nous, (divine) reason in philosophy

Further reading

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Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French nous.

Pronoun

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nous

  1. we (subject pronoun)
  2. ourselves (reflexive pronoun)

Descendants

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  • French: nous

Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin nōs.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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nous

  1. Alternative form of nos

Picard

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Etymology

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From Old French nous.

Pronoun

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nous

  1. we