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nihil. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
nihil, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
nihil in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
nihil you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Latin nihil, nil.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈnɪ.hɪl/, /ˈniː(h)ɪl/, /ˈnaɪ(h)ɪl/, /-əl/
- Rhymes: -aɪəl
Noun
nihil (countable and uncountable, plural nihils)
- (countable, law) A nihil dicit.
- (uncountable, chiefly philosophy) nothingness, nonbeing
- 1996, David Tibet, “The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)” (lyrics):
- I shall no longer believe all the visions of my youth:
They have dissolved into nihil.
2008, Arvydas Šliogeris, Names of Nihil, page 13:All tales about the beginning are apt to eliminate the nothing and make being overall. Without Nihil the whirlpool of the beginning settles down and becomes a stagnant puddle of pure being. Nihil disappears.
2009, Walter Brueggemann, An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, page 143:That is, in the sovereign act of creation, whereby YHWH orders chaos, YHWH provisionally defeated the power of the Nihil but did not destroy or eliminate the threat of chaos.
Derived terms
Dutch
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin nihil.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
nihil
- nothing
- Synonyms: niks, niets, noppes, nada
Descendants
Indonesian
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch nihil, from Latin nihil.
Pronunciation
Adjective
nihil (comparative lebih nihil, superlative paling nihil)
- null
- empty
Derived terms
Further reading
Interlingua
Pronunciation
Pronoun
nihil
- (indefinite) The absence of anything; nothing.
Latin
Etymology
From nihilum, from ne- (“not”) + hīlum (“the least bit”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
nihil (indeclinable)
- (indefinite) nothing
- Nīl·ne in mentem·st? ― Cannot you think of anything?
- Nihil est. ― It's nothing/It doesn't matter.
- Nihil sub sōle novum. ― Nothing new under the sun (proverb).
Usage notes
- This pronoun can be used with a neuter nominative/accusative singular adjective (e.g. nihil bonum), or with the genitive singular of a second-declension neuter adjective (e.g. nihil bonī), but it is not used with the genitive singular of third-declension adjectives.
- In Latin, negation is expressed by a single negative word per clause (i.e., Latin does not have negative concord). If another negative word is present, such as nec (“nor, and not”) or numquam (“never”), the negative polarity pronoun quidquam / quicquam (“anything”) is used instead of nihil (“nothing”) unless the pronoun represents a second, logically distinct negation.
Declension
Indeclinable pronoun (used only in the nominative and accusative), singular only.
The senses of the genitive, dative and ablative cases are usually rendered with forms of nūllus + rēs: genitive nūllīus reī f, dative nūllī reī f, ablative nūllā rē f. The genitive nihilī and the ablative nihilō, from nihilum, are generally not used as indefinite pronouns, but are instead reserved for idiomatic uses (nihilī being used adjectivally with the sense "worth nothing", and nihilō being used in adverbial phrases like dē nihilō (“for no reason, without cause”) and nihilō minus or nihilōminus (“notwithstanding, none the less”)).
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “nihil”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “nihil”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "nihil", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- nihil in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- I cannot wait till..: nihil mihi longius est or videtur quam dum or quam ut
- nothing is more tiresome to me than..: nihil mihi longius est quam (c. Inf.)
- a wise man is in no way affected by this: hoc nihil ad sapientem pertinet
- to live a life free from all misfortune: nihil calamitatis (in vita) videre
- to afford no consolation: nihil habere consolationis
- to considerably (in no way) further the common good: multum (nihil) ad communem utilitatem afferre
- I will refuse you nothing: nihil tibi a me postulanti recusabo
- not to trouble oneself about a thing: nihil omnino curare
- there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
- to live as scrupulously moral a life as ever: nihil ex pristina virtute remittere
- to do no business with a man: nihil cum aliquo contrahere
- not to mention..: ut non (nihil) dicam de...
- but this is not to the point: sed hoc nihil (sane) ad rem
- there is something in what you say; you are more or less right: aliquid (τι) dicis (opp. nihil dicis)
Malay
Malay numbers (edit)
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0
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1 → , , , ,
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10 → , , ,
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Cardinal: (informal) kosong, (formal) sifar, nol, nihil
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Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin nihil.
Pronunciation
Numeral
nihil (Jawi spelling نيهيل)
- zero
- Synonyms: kosong, sifar, nol