niente

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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