ned

Unknown. The suggested initialism from "non-educated delinquent" is a backronym and folk etymology. Several other suggestions include a contraction of ne'er-do-well, neanderthal, or some kind of relationship with Teddy Boy although its use much predates the 1950s origin of that phrase. Ostensibly unrelated to "Ned" as a diminutive of the personal name "Edward" but the Scottish use of 'ned' for hooligan or lout is cited by the Oxford English Dictionary as dating from the early 19th century. The OED also attributes a possible derivation from the 'Edward' diminutive.

• IPA^(key): /nɛd/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

ned (plural neds)

1. (Scotland, slang, derogatory, offensive) A person, usually a youth, of low social standing and education, a violent disposition and with a particular style of dress (typically sportswear or Burberry), speech and behaviour.
   • 2007 (Scotland), RecordView in Daily Record, 14 Feb 07, Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail, p. 8:

     The mindless behaviour of drunken neds and nuisance neighbours brings misery to tens of thousands of honest folk.

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 28:

     You could live in a place for twenty years, you could clean up its streets and lock up its neds.

• chav (England)
• charva (Northeast England)
• scally (Northern England)
• scanger (Dublin/Ireland)
• schemie (Scotland)
• Senga (Scotland)
• yob, yobbo (England, Australia)
• spide (Northern Ireland)

• -end, DEN, DNE, Den, Den., End, NDE, den, edn., end, end-

• net (spelling variant)
• nit (Southern Bavarian)
• niat

From Middle High German niwiht, niweht, niht, a contracted form of Old High German niowiht, from nio (“never”) + wiht (“being, creature”), the last from Proto-Germanic *wihtą. Cognates include German nicht, Dutch niet, Yiddish ניט (nit) and נישט (nisht), English not.

• IPA^(key): /neːd̥/ (West Central Bavarian)
• IPA^(key): /ne̞d̥/, /nɛd̥/ (East Central Bavarian, Vienna, Southern Bavarian)

ned

1. not

   Des is ned mei Hund. ― This is not my dog.

ned?

1. (tag question) right?; is it?; isn't it?

   Synonyms: gö, gön S', gej, gäi, ned woa

   Des is dei Hund, ned? ― That's your dog, right?

From Old Norse niðr, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Indo-European *niter. Cognates include Faroese and Icelandic niður, English nether, Dutch neder, German nieder.

• IPA^(key): /nɛð/,

ned

1. down

ned

1. Alternative spelling of net

From né, by analogy with e/ed.

• IPA^(key): /ˈne.d‿/

ned

1. (poetic, rare) Alternative form of né used before a vowel
   • c. 1260s, Brunetto Latini, Il tesoretto [The Treasure], collected in Raccolta di rime antiche toscane: Volume primo, Palermo: Giuseppe Assenzio, published 1817, page 9, lines 1–5:

     Al valente Signore,
     Di cui non so migliore
     Sù la terra trovare;
     Che non avete pare
     Nè ’n pace, ned in guerra

     To the valiant Lord, better of whom I can not find anyone on earth, for you have no peer, neither in peace nor in war

• ned in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Cognate with Upper Sorbian hnyd and Czech hned.

• IPA^(key): /nɛt/

ned

1. immediately, straightaway

• ner (no longer listed; obsolete)

From Old Norse niðr, from Proto-Germanic *niþer.

ned

1. down (from a higher to a lower level)

• nede

• “ned” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• den, end

From Old Norse niðr, from Proto-Germanic *niþer.

• IPA^(key): /neː/, /neːd/
• Rhymes: -eː, -eːd
• Homophone: ne

ned

1. down (from a higher to a lower level)

• nede

• “ned” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /neːd/

nēd f

1. Alternative form of nīed

ned (plural neds)

1. (slang, derogatory) ned

• ner (somewhat informal)
• neder (archaic except in some compounds)

From Old Norse niðr, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Indo-European *niter. Cognates include English nether, Faroese and Icelandic niður, German nieder and Dutch neder.

• IPA^(key): /neːd/

• Audio:

  (file)

ned (not comparable)

1. (somewhat formal) down

   Antonym: upp

The forms ned and ner are often, but not always, interchangeable. The form ned is more formal and is especially found in compounds of more formal nature, whereas ner is more common as a word on its own. For instance the formal word nedlägga (“to discontinue, shut down”) vs. its informal equivalent lägga ner. Some compounds can use either form, e.g. nedladdning (“download”) (more formal) or nerladdning (less formal). Some compounds only use ned, e.g. nedlåtande (“condescending”).

In a few compounds, the otherwise archaic form neder is used, e.g. nederbörd (“precipitation”) or nedervåning (“ground floor”).

• nere (“down, as a location”)

• ned in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ned in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ned in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• den

• (Luutsa, Liivtšülä) IPA^(key): /ˈned/,
• Rhymes: -ed̥
• Hyphenation: ned

ned

1. Alternative form of need