Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


ne

ne

(nē)
,
adv.
[AS.
ne
. See
No
.]
Not; never.
[Obs.]
He never yet no villany
ne
said.
Chaucer.
Ne was formerly used as the universal adverb of negation, and survives in certain compounds, as never (= ne ever) and none (= ne one). Other combinations, now obsolete, will be found in the Vocabulary, as nad, nam, nil. See
Negative
, 2.

ne

,
c
onj.
[See
Ne
,
adv.
]
Nor.
[Obs.]
Shak.
No niggard
ne
no fool.
Chaucer.
Ne . . . ne
,
neither . . . nor.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Ne

NE

, not, is obsolete. We find it in early English writers, prefixed to other words; as nill, for ne will, will not; nas, for ne has, has not; nis for ne is, is not.

Definition 2024


Ne

Ne

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ne"

Translingual

Symbol

Ne

  1. (chemistry) Symbol for neon.

See also

ne

ne

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ne"

English

Adverb

ne (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Not.
    • 13??, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
      He nevere yet no vilaynie ne sayde.
    • 1512, Robert Copland, The History of Helyas:
      And whan the good quene herde these pyteous tydynges lytel lacked that the ne dyed for sorowe / wherfore all lamentably the began to complayne her sayenge.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
      His forces faile, ne can no lenger fight
    • 1812, Lord Byron, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Canto I, 2:
      Whilom in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth, / Who ne in virtue's ways did take delight [...].

Conjunction

ne

  1. (obsolete) Nor.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
      But to her cry they list not lenden eare, / Ne ought the more their mightie strokes surceasse.
    • 1798, Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", ll. 443-6:
      The pang, the curse, with which they died, / Had never pass'd away; / I could not draw my een from theirs / Ne turn them up to pray.

Anagrams


Albanian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [nɛ]

Etymology

The nominative-accusative is from accusative Proto-Albanian *nōs, stressed form of clitic Proto-Indo-European *nos, which is continued by the clitic na. Neve and nesh are innovated, but Gheg retains dative nahe (Old Albanian nae) from a genitive *nosōm.

Pronoun

ne (accusative ne, dative neve, ablative nesh)

  1. we, us

Declension

See also

References

  1. Fialuur i voghel Sccyp e ltinisct (Small Dictionary of Albanian and Latin), page 85, by P. Jak Junkut, 1895, Sckoder

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *ni.

Particle

ne

  1. not

Usage notes

Used combined with ket, mirroring French ne ... pas.


Catalan

Pronoun

ne (enclitic, contracted 'n, proclitic en, contracted proclitic n')

  1. represents an indeterminate number or quantity of a given noun
  2. represents a place (associated with the action described by the verb) that would be introduced by the preposition de
  3. replaces a phrase introduced by the preposition de
  4. replaces the object of a causative verb

Usage notes

  • Ne cannot be used more than once as the object of a given verb.
  • While ne is usually used to replace phrases beginning with the prepostion de, adverbial phrases (eg de pressa) are replaced with hi.
  • Ne is sometimes used instead of ho to replace an adjective or indefinite noun as the predicate of a verb.
  • Ne is sometimes used popularly to add emphasis to a sentence: in this sense, it has no translation in English.

See also


Chuukese

Conjunction

ne

  1. to (connects verbs)

Preposition

ne

  1. Expressing a fraction or a ratio. Preceded by a nominator and followed by the denominator.

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ne/

Interjection

ne

  1. no!

Particle

ne

  1. not

See also


Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin nec, neque. Compare Italian , French and Spanish ni, Romanian nici.

Adverb

ne

  1. neither

Dutch

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology

From nen through apocope, itself a contraction of eenen, enen, the now-obsolete accusative form of een.

Article

ne

  1. (Brabantian) a, an
    ne man
    a man

Usage notes

ne is used primarily in the dialects that retain the three-gender split. It is only used for masculine words, while een is used for feminine and neuter words.

The form nen is used before vowels (as the English an) and certain consonants (commonly b, d and t), differing from dialect to dialect.

See also

Anagrams


Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ne/

Particle

ne

  1. no
  2. not
  3. non-

Antonyms


Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈne/
  • Hyphenation: ne
  • Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

ne (plural, stem nii-)

  1. (demonstrative, of things and animals) they (plural of the pronoun se (“it”))
  2. (demonstrative) When used like a definite article, “the” or “those”.
    Tässä ne kirjat nyt ovat. — “This is where those books are now.” (literally, “Here those books now are”)
  3. (colloquial, dialectal, of people) they (in literary standard: he).

Inflection

The case suffixes are mostly regular (except inessive and elative singular). Abessive is never used in singular and extremely seldom in plural. Instructive niin is more or less a theoretical construction, since it has developed into an adverb, and its current meaning cannot be derived from ne.

See also

Anagrams


French

Etymology

From Latin non.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /nə/
  • Rhymes:

Particle

ne

  1. (literary) not (used alone to negate a verb; now chiefly with the verbs pouvoir, savoir, cesser and oser)
    • 1713, Voltaire, letter, Dec 1713:
      Je ne sais si je dois vous appeler Monsieur ou Mademoiselle [...].
      I don't know if I should call you Mr or Miss.
    • 1826, Victor Hugo, Bug-Jargal, XXXVIII:
      Le prince de France nous aime, celui d'Espagne ne cesse de nous secourir.
      The prince of France loves us, that of Spain never stops helping us.
    • 1868, Emile Zola, Madeleine Férat:
      Je n’ose te jurer que je t'aime toujours, parce que je sens bien que tu ne me croirais pas.
      I dare not swear that I still love you, for I sense that you would not believe me.
    • 1943, Jean-Paul Sartre, Réflexions sur la question juive:
      Mais je ne le crois pas : un homme qui trouve naturel de dénoncer des hommes ne peut avoir notre conception de l'humain [...].
      But I don't think so: a man who finds it natural to denounce men cannot have our idea of being human.
  2. not, no (used before a verb, with a subsequent element following; see Usage Notes, below)
    • 1851, Henri Murger, Le pays latin:
      Je ne sais rien de plus odieux que l'hypocrisie.
      I don't know anything more odious than hypocrisy.
    • 1998, Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules Élémentaires:
      Bruno se rendit compte qu'il ne serait jamais accepté par les hippies [...].
      Bruno realised that he'd never be accepted by the hippies.
    • 2012, Le Monde, 3 May 2012:
      "Il n’y a pas eu un truc auquel on ne s'attendait pas", affirme Stéphane Le Foll.
      ‘There wasn't anything we weren't expecting,’ stated Stéphane Le Foll.
  3. Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so-called "pleonastic" or "expletive" ne.
    • 1829, Victor Hugo, Le Derner Jour d'un Condamné, XXVII:
      Ah! mes cheveux blanchiront avant que ma tête ne tombe!
      Oh! My hair will go white before my head falls!
    • 1837, George Sand, Mauprat:
      Oui , mais je crains qu'elle ne soit plus malade qu'elle ne l'avoue, repartit l'abbé.
      ‘Yes, but I think she might be more ill than she's letting on,’ the priest replied.
  4. (in comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative)
    apprendre le français est plus facile qu'on ne pense — “learning French is easier than you think”

Usage notes

  • Ne is typically followed by a verb and then a negative adverbial pas, plus, jamais, guère, or (now literary) point; by a negative pronoun personne or rien; or by a negative determiner, aucun or nul.
  • In colloquial French, ne is often omitted: Je le veux pas ‘I don't want it’.
  • In literary French, ne can be used alone with certain verbs, as specified above.

See also

Anagrams


German

Etymology 1

Either an alternative form of nein or from Proto-Germanic *nai (never).

Pronunciation 1

  • IPA(key): /neː/

Interjection

ne

  1. no, nay
    Ne, das mach ich nich.
    No, I won't do that.

Pronunciation 2

  • IPA(key): /nə/

Interjection

ne

  1. (colloquial) right?; is it?; is it not?; tag question]
    Wir müssen da lang, ne?
    We need to go that way, don't we?
    Du hast keine Geschwister, ne?
    You don't have siblings, do you?
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Reduced form of eine.

Alternative forms

Article

ne

  1. (colloquial) Contraction of eine (a, an).
    Willst du 'ne Flasche Bier? — “Would you like a bottle of beer?”

Gothic

Romanization

  1. Romanization of 𐌽𐌴

Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈnɛ]

Adverb

ne

  1. don't
    Ne hallgass rá! - Don't listen to him!

Usage notes

Used before the verb in an imperative clause to negate that clause; ne is always used instead of nem in the imperative mood.

Derived terms


Ido

Etymology

From Esperanto ne, from French ne, Russian не (ne).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ne/, /nɛ/

Adverb

ne

  1. not, don’t

Derived terms

  • ne- (non-, un-, in-, im-, ir- (etc.))

Noun

ne (plural ne-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter N/n.

See also


Isthmus Zapotec

Conjunction

ne

  1. and

Istro-Romanian

Etymology

From Latin nix, nivem, through Proto-Romanian (compare Romanian nea, Aromanian neao), from Proto-Italic *sniks, from Proto-Indo-European *snígʷʰs (snow), root noun derived from *sneygʷʰ- (to snow).

Noun

ne f (definite nevu, genitive/dative lu nevu)

  1. snow

Italian

Etymology

From Latin inde (thence).

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -e

Adverb

ne

  1. from there
    Ne sono venuto. — “I have come from there.”

Usage notes

  • The pronoun ne replaces di là.
    Sono di Genova; ne sono venuto stamattina. — “I am from Genova; I came from there this morning.”

Pronoun

ne

  1. of it
    Ne ho sentito parlare. — “I have heard talk of it.”
    Cosa ne pensi? — “What do you think of it?”
  2. of them (sometimes not translated in English)
    Ce ne sono due. — “There are two (of them).”

Usage notes

  • The pronoun ne stands for di + [pronoun], and so can be a translation of “[preposition] + it/them” for any preposition that is translated as di in Italian.

Contraction

ne

  1. apocopic form of nel
    Massimo Troisi ha vinto un oscar per la sua interpretazione ne "Il postino". "Massimo Troisi won an Oscar for his performance in "Il Postino".

Usage notes

Ne is used where nel, nella, etc, would ordinarily be used, but cannot be because the article is part of the title of a film, book, etc.

See also

See also


Japanese

Romanization

ne

  1. rōmaji reading of
  2. rōmaji reading of

Kalasha

Determiner

ne

  1. no

Particle

ne

  1. no

Kurdish

Interjection

ne

  1. no (used to show disagreement or negation)


This Kurdish entry was created from the translations listed at no. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see ne in the Kurdish Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) December 2008


Ladin

Adverb

ne

  1. not

Latin

Interjection

  1. truly!, indeed!; commonly connected with other affirmative particles

Conjunction

(+ subjunctive)

  1. that not, in order not to and similar; lest
    vereor ne id astute fecerint

Derived terms

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ne (not).

Adverb

ne

  1. (after dummodo or utinam) not

Derived terms

See also


Latvian

Conjunction

ne

  1. not
    ne tikainot only
    ne visainot quite

Lithuanian

Interjection

ne

  1. no (used to show disagreement or negation)


This Lithuanian entry was created from the translations listed at no. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see ne in the Lithuanian Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) October 2009


Livonian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ne/

Pronoun

ne

  1. they; plural nominative form of tämā

Lojban

Cmavo

ne

  1. non-restrictive version of pe;[1] which is incidentally of/associated with[2]

References

  1. Lojban for Beginners, Chapter 9, §6
  2. LLG's cmavo/selma'o (ma'oste) list

Luganda

Conjunction

ne

  1. and (only used if the overall statement is grammatically positive)

See also

References

p. 94, The Essentials of Luganda, J. D. Chesswas, 4th edition. Oxford University Press: Nairobi. 1967.

This entry has fewer than three known examples of actual usage, the minimum considered necessary for clear attestation, and may not be reliable. Luganda is subject to a special exemption for languages with limited documentation. If you speak it, please consider editing this entry or adding citations. See also Help and the Community Portal.

Mandarin

Pronunciation

Romanization

ne (Zhuyin ㄋㄜ˙)

  1. Pinyin transcription of
  2. Pinyin transcription of
  3. Nonstandard spelling of .
  4. Nonstandard spelling of .

Usage notes

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Middle English

Adverb

ne

  1. not

Conjunction

ne

  1. nor

Middle French

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Adverb

ne

  1. not (used to negate a verb)
    • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 22:
      Ha ha pourdieu franc chevalier et preux ne me occisez mie
      Ha! For the love of God honest and valiant knight, don't kill me!
    • 1530, François Rabelais, Pantagruel
      et ne m'advint oncques de mentir ou asseurer chose que ne feust veritable
      It never happened to me to lie or to assure someone of something that wasn't truthful
    • 1562, Henry IV of France, Lettres Missives
      Catherine de Médicis, ne tarda pas à faire venir auprès de lui, en 1561, sa femme et ses enfants.
      Catherine of Medicis did not hesitate to bring to him, in 1561, his wife and his children
Usage notes
  • As in modern French, may be used in combination with another adverb, such as ne... iamais, ne... pas, ne... gaire, ne... mie, ne... oncques, ne... poin(c)t and ne... rien(s), but such an adverb is not required.

Etymology 2

See ny

Conjunction

ne

  1. Alternative form of ny (neither; nor)

Negerhollands

Verb

ne

  1. take

References

  • Language Contact in the Danish West Indies (2012, ISBN 900423070X)

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ne (not)

Adverb

ne

  1. not

Old French

Etymology

From Latin nec.

Adverb

ne

  1. not; used to form negative constructions

Descendants

  • French: ne

Conjunction

ne

  1. neither (not one or the other)

Descendants

  • French: ni

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ne.

Adverb

ne

  1. not

Romanian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin nīs, from Latin nos. Compare (old form) and Aromanian .

Alternative forms

  • нє (pre-1860s Cyrillic form)

Pronoun

ne (unstressed accusative and reflexive form of noi)

  1. (direct object, first-person plural) us
    El ne urmează.
    He's following us.

Related terms

  • noi (stressed accusative)

Pronoun

ne (unstressed dative and reflexive form of noi)

  1. (indirect object) (to) us
    Ele ne dau cadouri.
    They give us presents.

Related terms

See also


Scots

Etymology

From Old English ne, from Proto-Germanic *ne, from Proto-Indo-European *ne.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /neɪ/, /nɛ/, /nə/, /n(:)/

Adverb

ne (not comparable)

  1. (archaic, rare) Not.
    Ne look at the sky, when ye tread bumpy roads. (A Northern English folk saying)

Conjunction

ne

  1. (archaic, rare) Nor.
    Ne mother, ne father, ne friends, ne foes ne-knew what had worthen of him.

Usage notes

  • Ne is a negative particle and it is used preverbally, i.e. it is placed directly before a verb, for example,ː"What haps might chance me I ne knew" (William Fowler (makar), 1590) and "To suffer exile he said that he ne couth" (Gavin Douglas, Virgil's Aeneid, 1513). Now archaic and chiefly dialectal, it is still understood and used by a few rural speakers in Scotland and Northern England.
  • As a conjunction, it is placed immediately before the word it negates as inː ne mickle, ne little; Twas ne man, ne woman.. ne beast; ne rich, ne poor, ne bold, ne meek, ne stong, ne weak can escape God's wrath.
  • In urban areas and cities became displaced by na or nae.

References


Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ne, from Proto-Indo-European *ne.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ne/

Particle

ne (Cyrillic spelling не)

  1. not (denoting negation)
    ne znam — I don't know
    on je ne samo darovit, već i jako marljiv — he is not only talented, but also very industrious
    htio-ne htio — whether you want it or not
    da ne spavaš? / ne spavaš li? / zar ne spavaš? — aren't you sleeping?
    ne mogu, a da ne.. — I cannot but...
    reći ne — to say no; refuse, decline
    ne manje nego/od.. — no less than...
    ne doći — to fail to come, not come
    .... Zar ne? — ... Aren't you? (Do you?, Don't you?)
    "neću" — I won't

Interjection

ne (Cyrillic spelling не)

  1. no
    Jesi li demokrat? Ne! — Are you a democrat? No!

Synonyms

  • jok (dialectal)

Antonyms


Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ne, from Proto-Indo-European *ne.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnɛ́/, /nɛ/
  • Tonal orthography: , ne

Particle

  1. not (negates meaning of verb)
  2. no (expresses disapproval, disagreement)

Antonyms


Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish نه (ne, what, whatever, how), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (ne, what), from Proto-Turkic *nē- (what).[1] The only Turkic root beginning with /n/. The earliest PT form must have contained a unique initial nasal, having yielded specific reflexes in modern languages.

Pronoun

ne

  1. what
    Ne istiyorsun?What do you want?
  2. whatever
    Ne istersen yaparım. ― I will do whatever you want.
Declension
Derived terms
Related terms

Adverb

ne

  1. what, how, such
    Ne güzel!How beautiful!
    Ne güzel bir gün!What a beautiful day!
  2. Used as an intensifier to express surprise, astonishment, together with expressions like be!, ha!.
    Ne osurdun be! ― You farted such (that probably the whole world heard it).

Etymology 2

From Ottoman Turkish نه (ne, neither; nor), from Persian نه (na). Cognate to Old English ne (not).

Conjunction

ne

  1. neither; nor
    Ne bu ne şuNeither this nor that
Usage notes
  • Not used alone but rather as ne...ne..., the way it is used is directly copied from Persian نه...نه...(“neither; nor”).
Synonyms

Noun

ne

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter N/n.

See also

References

  1. Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), *nē-”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill

Tuvaluan

Particle

ne

  1. past tense marker, inserted immediately before the relevant verb

Unami

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [nə]

Pronoun

  1. that (inanimate)

Yup'ik

Noun

ne (absolutive ena)

  1. house

Zulu

Adjective

-ne

  1. four

Inflection

Adjective concord
Modifier Copulative
1st singular engimune ngimune
2nd singular omune umune
1st plural esibane sibane
2nd plural enibane nibane
Class 1 omune mune
Class 2 abane bane
Class 3 omune mune
Class 4 emine mine
Class 5 eline line
Class 6 amane mane
Class 7 esine sine
Class 8 ezine zine
Class 9 ene ine
Class 10 ezine zine
Class 11 olune lune
Class 14 obune bune
Class 15 okune kune
Class 17 okune kune

Derived terms