rien
French
Etymology
From Middle French rien, from Old French rien, from Latin rem, accusative of rēs (“thing”). Compare Catalan res (“nothing”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
rien
- nothing
- Antoine Lavoisier
- Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme.
- Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.
- Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme.
- Antoine Lavoisier
- (archaic) anything
- 1630, François de Malherbe, Le traité des bienfaits de Sénèque, III, 10
- En tous les bienfaits d'importance, la preuve ne peut avoir de lieu ; car il n'y a bien souvent que deux qui en sachent rien .
- 1630, François de Malherbe, Le traité des bienfaits de Sénèque, III, 10
Synonyms
Related terms
See also
Further reading
- “rien”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch *rīan, from Proto-Germanic *rīhaną.
Pronunciation
Verb
riën
Inflection
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Alternative forms
Descendants
Further reading
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “riën (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page riën
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French rien.
Noun
rien f (plural riens)
- thing (miscellaneous item)
Descendants
- French: rien
References
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (rien)
Old French
Alternative forms
- ren (Anglo-Norman)
Etymology
From Latin rem, accusative of rēs.
Pronunciation
Noun
rien oblique singular, f (oblique plural riens, nominative singular riens, nominative plural riens)
- thing; object
- circa 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:
- "Dex te mete,
Chevaliers, joie et cuer parfite
De la rien qui plus te delite !"- "That God gives you
Knight, joy and a perfect heart
From the thing that pleases you the most
- "That God gives you
- being; creature
Pronoun
rien
- thing
- circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
- "Oïl, mout m'an sovient il bien.
Seneschaus, savez vos an rien?- Yes, I remember it well
- Seneschal, do you know anything about it?
- "Oïl, mout m'an sovient il bien.
- circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
- (used with "ne") nothing
Descendants
Tumleo
Noun
rien
References
- Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)
Categories:
- 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 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French pronouns
- French terms with archaic senses
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle Dutch lemmas
- Middle Dutch verbs
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Old French/en
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Old French terms with quotations
- Old French pronouns
- Old French irregular nouns
- Tumleo lemmas
- Tumleo nouns