niente

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English

Etymology

From Italian niente.

Pronunciation

Adverb

niente (not comparable)

  1. (music) totally silent, as a musical direction (abbreviated to n. or ∅ in sheet music)
    Synonym: al niente

Italian

Etymology

From an earlier neente, either from Latin ne gentem (“no person, no one”),[1] nec entem, ne entem[2][3], or ne inde.[4] Compare Old Catalan nient,[5] Sicilian nenti, Piedmontese gnente, Occitan neient,[6] French néant.

The regional pronunciation with initial self-gemination of /nj-/ is by speakers who try to correct the /ɲ-/ because of the orthography, but keep the syllable structure, and thus gemination, of the original /ɲ-/.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnjɛn.te/
    • Audio:(file)
  • (regional) IPA(key): */ˈɲɛn.te/, */ˈnjɛn.te/
  • Rhymes: -ɛnte
  • Hyphenation: nièn‧te

Pronoun

niente

  1. nothing
    Synonym: nulla
    Cosa fai? Niente. ― What are you doing? Nothing.
  2. anything
    Synonym: nulla
    Hai bisogno di niente? ― Do you need anything?
    Non voglio niente da mangiare. ― I don't want anything to eat.

Determiner

niente (invariable)

  1. (informal) no, (after a negative) any
    Synonym: nessuno
    Niente bugie! ― No lies!

Adverb

niente

  1. at all
  2. nothing, anything

Noun

niente m (invariable)

  1. nothing

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ niènte in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
  2. ^ Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907) “niente”, in Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Rome: Albrighi & Segati
  3. ^ niente in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
  4. ^ niente in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ Old Catalan up to the 1800s; this context is no longer in modern usage. Should this be listed as Old Occitan? Per Pere Casanellas's Bible Translation by Jews and Christians in Medieval Catalan-Speaking Territories (listed as the word for modern Catalan's no res) and Frederic Mistral's Tresor dóu Felibrige dictionary (listed as the Catalan cognate to Occitan neient).
  6. ^ Neient, nient or neant, according to the Dicod'òc multidictionary tool by Lo Congrès permanent de la lenga occitana (The Permanent Congress of the Occitan Language)

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