nowt

English

A wooden shack in Upton, Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, UK, for selling cider. At the time the photograph was taken, the shack was closed and had a sign stating "Nowt left in here" (indicating to potential thieves that nothing of value is left in the shack while it is unattended).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naʊt/
• Rhymes: -aʊt
• IPA^(key): /nəʊt/
• Rhymes: -əʊt
• Homophone: note

Etymology 1

Dialectal pronunciation of naught. Akin to German nichts.

Pronoun

nowt

1. (Northern England) Naught, nothing.

Synonyms

• noot (Geordie)

Noun

nowt (uncountable)

1. (Northern England, Sussex) Naught, nothing.

Derived terms

• shy bairns get nowt

Adverb

nowt (not comparable)

1. (Northern England) Naught, nothing.

Antonyms

• owt

Etymology 2

From Middle English nowte, noute, nawte, naute, borrowed from Old Norse naut, from Proto-Germanic *nautą. Cognate with Old English nēat, English neat.

Alternative forms

• nolt (dialectal or obsolete)

Noun

nowt (plural nowts)

1. (Scotland and Northern England) An ox.
2. (Scotland and Northern England) A herd of cattle.
3. (figurative, Scotland and Northern England) A dumb, crass, or clumsy person, or a person who is difficult or stubborn.
   • 1929, James William Marriott, editor, The Best One-act Plays of 1931‎^[1], G.G. Harrap, published 1932, page 162:

     A hunner guineas for the heid o' that nowt Renwick, and him no' sae very far awa' frae your very nose at this meenit.

References

• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
• “nowt”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [2]
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [3]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[4]

Anagrams

• -town, Town, town, wo'n't, won't, wont

---

Scots

Etymology

From Old English nāwiht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nʌut/

Pronoun

nowt

1. (Southern Scots) naught, nothing

   Synonyms: nihin, nithin, nuhin, noot, nowts

   Antonym: owt