Translingual

Symbol

Ni

1. (chemistry) Symbol for nickel.

English

Noun

ni

1. (linguistics) Initialism of noun inanimate.

See also

• na
• nad
• nid

Anagrams

• in, IN

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *nū, from Proto-Indo-European *nū̆ ‎(“now”). Cognate to Sanskrit नू ‎(nū, “now”). Often occurs in coordination with other particles, compare tani, nani, nime.

Adverb

ni

1. now

Alternative forms

• tani
• nani
• nime

Related terms

• nu

Asturian

Noun

ni f ‎(uncountable)

1. nu (name for the letter of the Greek alphabet: Ν and ν)

Basque

Pronoun

ni

1. I (first-person singular personal pronoun)
   • 1989, Gorka Aulestia, Basque-English Dictionary, William A. Douglas, page 53

     Ni errege izan nintzen.

     I was king.

   • 2013, Patricio Urquizu Sarasua, Gramática de la lengua vasca, Universidad Nacional de Educación de Distancia, page 154

     Ni etorri naiz.

     I have come.

Biloxi

Noun

ni

1. Synonym of ani ‎(“water”)

References

• David Kaufman, Tanêks-Tąyosą Kadakathi: Biloxi-English Dictionary (University of Kansas, 2011, ISBN 978-1-936153-08-4), page 34

Breton

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *ni, from Proto-Celtic *snīs.

Pronoun

ni

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Brythonic *nei, from Proto-Celtic *neɸūss, from Proto-Indo-European *népōts.

Noun

ni m ‎(plural nied)

1. nephew

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• Rhymes: -i

Etymology 1

Conjunction

ni

1. neither, nor

Etymology 2

Noun

ni f ‎(plural nis)

1. Nu; the Greek letter Ν (lowercase ν).

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse níu, from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ ‎(“nine”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/, [niːˀ]

Numeral

ni

1. (cardinal) nine

Esperanto

Etymology

From Italian noi, French nous, Spanish nos, Latin nos, plus the i of personal pronouns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni ‎(first-person plural, accusative nin, possessive nia)

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

   Ni batis lin.

   We hit him.

2. ourselves

   Ni diris al ni.

   We said to ourselves.

French

Etymology

From Middle French ny, from Old French ne, from Latin nec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Conjunction

ni

1. neither; nor

Usage notes

• Chiefly used at least twice in the same sentence, such as ni riche, ni pauvre ‎(“neither rich nor poor”).

See also

• soit

Gothic

Romanization

ni

1. Romanization of 𐌽𐌹

Hausa

Pronoun

nī

1. I (1st person singular pronoun)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈni]
• Hyphenation: ni

Interjection

ni

1. lo!, look!

   itt van ni - look! here it is!

Idi

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Idi Organised Phonology Data

Ido

Pronoun

ni

1. (personal) we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

Interlingua

Alternative forms

• nec

Etymology

From French and Spanish ni, from Latin nec ‎(“and not”).

Adverb

ni

1. and not.

   Io non sape, ni vole saper (I don’t know, and I don’t want to know)

2. Neither, nor.

   Illo ni me place ni displace (It neither pleases me nor displeases me)

3. And, or (following a "with no" or "without").

   Nos debe resister sin aqua ni alimento (We must resist with no water or food)

Italian

Adverb

ni

1. (informal) Neither yes nor no (a play on no and si).

Noun

ni m, f ‎(invariable)

1. nu (Greek letter)

Anagrams

• in

Japanese

Romanization

ni

1. rōmaji reading of に
2. rōmaji reading of ニ

Kamano

Alternative forms

• nina

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (1986, ISBN 0521286212)

Kansa

Noun

ni

1. water
2. any liquid
3. river

References

• Kansa dictionary
• Quapaw dictionary, in notes: "ni (ni) - water, river, liquid (Kanza)"

Kedah Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni

1. you (singular)

Klao

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• World Lexicon of Grammaticalization (2002, ISBN 0521005973)

Latin

Alternative forms

• nei (in old orthography)

Etymology

From Old Latin nei, from Proto-Indo-European *néy ‎(“not”). Cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐌹 ‎(nei), Lithuanian nei, Old Church Slavonic ни ‎(ni) and Old Irish ní.

Adverb

nī

1. not, if...not, unless- an absolutely negative particle like ne so only in combinations

Derived terms

• quid nī? (why not?)
• nīmīrum (not wonderful)
• nisi

Conjunction

nī

1. not, that not, unless; like ne in imperative and intentional clauses

   Ni quid tibi hinc in spem referas.

   Vinum aliudve quid ni laudato.

   Numa constituit, ut pisces, qui squamosi non essent, ni pollucerent ... ni qui ad polluctum emerent.

Luxembourgish

Adverb

ni

1. never

Malay

Etymology

Shortened form of ini, from Proto-Malayic *(i)ni(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)ni, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)ni.

Alternative forms

• ini
• اين
• ني

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/
• Rhymes: -ni, -i

Determiner

ni

1. this (the (thing) here)
2. this (known (thing) just mentioned)
3. this (known (thing) about to be mentioned)
4. this (known (thing) that the speaker does not think is known to the audience)

Pronoun

ni

1. this (The thing, item, etc. being indicated)

Mandarin

Romanization

ni (Zhuyin ㄋㄧ˙)

1. Nonstandard spelling of nī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of ní.
3. Nonstandard spelling of nǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of nì.

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.

Marshallese

Noun

ni

1. coconut

Navajo

Pronoun

ni

1. second person singular pronoun you
   • Shí dóó ni ayóo ałk’is niidlį́.

     You and I are really good friends.

2. second person singular possessive pronoun yours
   • Díí naaltsoos éí ni.

     This book is yours.

Usage notes

The verb in Navajo incorporates information about person, and many sentences may thus not have explicit independent pronouns. For instance:

• Hooghandi naniná.
• Ni éí hooghandi naniná.

Both sentences are grammatically complete, and mean essentially the same thing: you are at home. The verb naniná is in the second-person form, so the pronoun can be safely omitted, as in the first sentence. This is similar to pronoun dropping in other languages where the verb specifies person, such as Spanish. Meanwhile, the explicit use of ni in the second sentence emphasizes that the speaker is talking about you. This can be thought of as roughly equivalent to the use of emphasis in English: while the first sentence comes across as you're at home, the second one is more like you, you're at home.

See also

Ningil

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66 : /niː/
• Margaret Manning, Naomi Saggers, A Tentative Phonemic Analysis of Ningil (SIL), in Phonologies of five Austronesian languages (Richard Loving, John M. Clifton; 1975) : /ni/

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse níu (whence also Danish ni, Icelandic níu, Faroese níggju and Swedish nio) from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥. Cognate with Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 ‎(niun); Old English niġon (English nine); Old Frisian nigun (West Frisian njoggen); Old High German niun (German neun).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Numeral

ni

1. (cardinal) nine

Related terms

• niende

References

• “ni” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse níu

Numeral

ni

1. (cardinal) nine

References

• “ni” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Novial

Conjunction

nek ... ni

1. neither ... nor

Nutabe

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Paul Rivet, Nouvelle contribution à l’étude de l’ethnologie précolombienne de Colombie, Journal de la Société des Américanistes volume 35, pages 25-39 (1943), page 26

Old High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Particle

ni

1. not

Omaha-Ponca

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Alice Cunningham Fletcher, ‎Francis La Flesche, The Omaha Tribe (1970), page 166

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from Ancient Greek νῦ ‎(nû).

Noun

ni f (plural nis)

1. nu (the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet).

Romanian

Pronoun

ni

1. Alternative form of ne: to us

Usage notes

This form is used when ne (which is dative) is combined with the following accusatives:

• îl (the accusative of el, contracted as ni-l)
• îi (the accusative of ei, contracted as ni-i)
• le (the accusative of ele)
• se (the reflexive accusative of all third-person pronouns)

See also

• li
• vi

Samoan

Article

ni

1. some (plural indefinite article)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ni ‎(“nor, not”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *nej, from Proto-Indo-European *ney. Compare ni-, ne.

Particle

ni ‎(Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. (emphasizes negation) even, either

   ni ja to ne znam — even I don't know that; I don't know that either

   nisam hteo/htio ni da čujem za pr(ij)edlog — I didn't even want to listen about the proposal

Conjunction

ni ‎(Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. neither, nor

   ona nije ni pametna ni(ti) marljiva — she is neither smart nor industrious

   ni traga ni glasa o .. — not a trace about ..

   ni kriv ni dužan — completely innocent

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• nni

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni]
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): [nɪ]

Pronoun

ni

1. us, accusative of nuàutri
2. us, dative of nuàutri
3. us, reflexive of nuàutri

Inflection

See also

• nuàutri
• vi

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin nec.

Conjunction

ni

1. (coordinating) neither... nor

   Ni Juan, ni Pedro ni Felipe te darán la razón.‎

   Neither John, nor Peter, nor Phillip will give you the reason.

2. nor, or

   No descansa de día ni de noche.‎

   He doesn't rest at day or at night.

Adverb

ni

1. not even, even

   No descansaba ni por un minuto -- I didn't rest even for a minute.

Antonyms

• o ... o

Etymology 2

Noun

ni f ‎(plural níes)

1. nu; the Greek letter Ν, ν

Synonyms

• ny

Swahili

Verb

ni

1. is

Swedish

Etymology

Since 1661, through contraction of the Old Swedish verb suffix -(e)n and the older pronoun I, e.g. vissten I > visste ni ("did you know"). Compare Icelandic þér and þið which developed similarly. The Old Swedish ī, ir derive from Old Norse ír, variant of ér, from Proto-Germanic *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

ni

1. you (plural nominative)
2. you (second-person singular nominative formal) (capitalized Ni, rare in modern use)

Usage notes

Both ni and er are second person plural forms, but can also be used as formal second person singular, as in the German Sie or French vous. It may sometimes also be capitalized (Ni, Er) The courteous "ni" was introduced in Swedish around the year 1900 as an alternative to the more complicated pattern of addressing others in the third person singular by their appropriate titles. This required knowledge of social status, occupation, educations, etc. with terms like fru ("Mrs.") or fröken ("Ms."), greve ("count"), kamrer ("accountant"), kandidat ("bachelor's degree holder"), etc. This was phased out gradually during the 1960s and 1970s in the so-called du-reformen, "the you-reform". In contemporary Swedish, du is universal and may be used to address anyone, regardless of differences in social status or age.

Ni is used occasionally by younger speakers to address customers, though this is often seen as being overly formal and too contrived, especially by older speakers. Formality and politeness in Swedish is not conveyed through specific grammatical forms, is primarily done through indirectness, manners of speaking or various other behavior.

Declension

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

Preposition

ni

1. Of; possessive particle. Used only with personal names.

   Bisikleta ni Juan

   Juan's bicycle

2. Objective marker for personal names—objective form of si; functional equivalent of ng.

Unami

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni]

Pronoun

ni

1. I

Uzbek

Particle

ni ‎(Cyrillic ни)

1. accusative case marker. It is placed after the direct object of a transitive verb.

   Men O'zbek tilini o'rganyapman.‎

   I am studying Uzbek.

Veps

Etymology

Borrowing from Russian ни ‎(ni).

Determiner

ni

1. not, not a, no

Inflection

Not inflected.

Conjunction

ni ... ni

1. neither ... nor

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007), “ни”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *ni, from Proto-Celtic *snīs.

Pronoun

ni

1. us; we

Usage notes

In South Wales, the pronoun ni can be used by itself colloquially where the affirmative first-person plural present tense of the verb ‘to be’ (ŷn) would be expected, e.g. Ni’n mynd i edrych o gwmpas yr amgueddfa. ‎(“We’re going to look around the museum.”) instead of Ŷn ni’n mynd....

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *nīs, from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁ésti ‎(“is not”).

Adverb

ni

1. not

Yil

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66 : /niː/
• A Tentative Phonemic Statement in Yil in West Sepik Province, in Phonologies of five Austronesian languages (Richard Loving, John M. Clifton; 1975) : /ni/

Zulu

Etymology 1

Adjective

-ni

1. what (kind of)

Inflection

Etymology 2

Pronoun

-ni

1. Combining stem of nina.

See also