niño

• nin, nío
• ninho (reintegrationist)

From Old Galician-Portuguese *nio, from Latin nīdus (“nest”), from Proto-Italic *nizdos (“nest”), from Proto-Indo-European *nisdós (“nest”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈniɲo/ [ˈnĩ.ɲʊ]
• Rhymes: -iɲo
• Hyphenation: ni‧ño

niño m (plural niños)

1. nest
   • 1894, Luís Otero Pimentel, Truada de rapaces:

     Dempois vin dúas lavandeiras que depenicaban unha espiga de trigo na leira de Xan de Pedreira, unha pomba que voaba pró souto de Fonte Boa, unha péga que fuxía de un lagarteiro, catro corvos que espaturraban un canciño morto na carballeira, un melro que asubiaba entre as follas dun cereixo, un carpinteiro que facía o burato pró seu niño; e unha laverca que rebulía no aire, con unha miñoquiña no pico.

     After this I saw two wagtails which were pecking a wheat spike at the field of Xan de Pedreira, a dove flying to the wood of Fonte Boa, a magpie fleeing from a kestrel, four ravens which were clawing at a dead pup at the oak grove, a blackbird whistling in the leaves of a cherry tree, a woodpecker making the hole of its nest; and a lark fluttering in the air with a little earthworm in its beak.

• “nyno” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “nyno” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “niño” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “niño” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “niño” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *ninnus, probably imitative of infantile language; also could have originated from Latin minimus. Compare also Italian nino and Sicilian nicu. Compare English nun for an English word that is formed similarly from imitative origin of infantile speech, as well as possibly nanny and nana.

• IPA^(key): /ˈniɲo/ [ˈni.ɲo]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɲo
• Syllabification: ni‧ño

niño m (plural niños, feminine niña, feminine plural niñas) (diminutive niñito)

1. child, boy

   Synonyms: chaval, chavo, chico, huerco, infante

   Antonym: adulto

• See also the gender-neutral neologism niñe/niñes.

• muchacho
• nene

• “niño”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014