aucun

French

Etymology

From Old French alcun, from Vulgar Latin *alicunus, from Latin aliquī + unus.[1]

Cognate with Italian alcuno, Spanish alguno, Galician algún, Portuguese algum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /o.kœ̃/, (in liaison) /o.kœ̃.n‿/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -œ̃

Determiner

aucun m (feminine aucune, masculine plural aucuns, feminine plural aucunes)

  1. (with ne) no, none, not any
    Il n’a aucun désir de construire des temples.
    He has no desire to build temples.

Usage notes

  • The plural forms aucuns and aucunes are now uncommon and are only used with pluralia tantum (e.g. aucuns frais "no fees," as frais has no singular), nouns that change meaning in the plural, and multiple things considered together (e.g. aucuns deux lieux "no two places").

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Saint Dominican Creole French:

Pronoun

aucun m (feminine aucune)

  1. (with ne) none, no-one
    Aucun d’entre eux n’a été capable de répondre.
    No one among them could give an answer.
    Aucun de ses amis ne sait où il est.
    None of his friends knows where he is.

References

  1. Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) “aucun”, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

Further reading

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *alicūnus.

Adjective

aucun m (oblique and nominative feminine singular aucune)

  1. any
  2. (used with "ne") none; not any
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