nix
English
WOTD – 26 November 2008
Etymology 1
From German nix, colloquial form of nichts (“nothing”).[1][2] Compare also Dutch niks (“nothing”), informal for niets (“nothing”). More at naught.
Pronunciation
- (UK, General American) IPA(key): /nɪks/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪks
- Homophone: nicks
Noun
nix (uncountable)
- (colloquial) Nothing. [from 1789]
- 1912, Edna Ferber, “Maymeys from Cuba”, in Buttered Side Down:
- "That's a clean lift from Kipling—or is it Conan Doyle? Anyway, I've read something just like it before. Say, kid, guess what these magazine guys get for a full page ad.? Nix. That's just like a woman. Three thousand straight. Fact."
- 1920, Harold MacGrath, chapter 26, in The Drums of Jeopardy:
- "I can take you down, Miss Conover, but I cannot take Mr. Hawksley. When the boss gives me an order I obey it—if I possibly can. On the day the boss tells me you can go strolling, I'll give you the key to the city. Until then, nix! No use arguing, Mr. Hawksley."
Translations
colloquial: nothing
|
Verb
nix (third-person singular simple present nixes, present participle nixing, simple past and past participle nixed)
- To make something become nothing; to reject or cancel. [from 1903]
- 1935 July 17, “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”, in Variety, volume 119, number 5, page 1:
- Sticks Nix Hick Pix [headline]
- 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
- He said his roommate had reacted favorably & said he "wanted to share the bed" with him! So I figured that nixed me out of the picture at least for now.
- 1999, Owen W. Linzmayer, Apple Confidential, San Francisco: No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 242:
- The move came less than six months after Jobs had nixed the spin-off of Newton Inc. as an independent company and brought it back inside Apple (see “The Fallen Apple,” page 143).
- 2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
- At work Mr. Burns spies Homer munching complacently on a donut and hisses that each donut Homer shoves into his fat face brings him one donut closer to the poisoned donut Mr. Burns has ordered thrown into the mix as a form of culinary Russian Roulette, only to learn from Smithers that the plant’s lawyers ultimately nixed the poisoned donut plan because “they consider it murder.”
- To destroy or eradicate.
Translations
to reject or cancel
to destroy
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Interjection
nix
- No! Not at all!
- 1916 January, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 472, column 2:
- "Ugh! An inventor, eh?" "Nix! He's not an inventor himself, but he antes-up for 'em."
- (obsolete) A warning cry when a policeman or schoolmaster etc. was seen approaching.
Related terms
References
- “nix”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “nix”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Etymology 2
From German Nix, from Middle High German nickes, niches, from Old High German nichus, nihhus, from Proto-Germanic *nikwus (“water-spirit; nix”), from Proto-Indo-European *neygʷ- (“to wash”). Cognate with Old English nicor (“a water-monster; hippopotamus”).
Translations
Anagrams
Bavarian
Etymology
Contraction of Middle High German nihtes niht (“nothing of nothing”), from Old High German niowiht, from nio (“never”) + wiht (“being, creature”), whence also ned (“not”), net, and German nicht, nichts. Compare also Central Franconian nüüx, nuuks, neihst, nühs.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /niks/
Central Franconian
Alternative forms
- nieks (variant spellings)
- neihst (Moselle Franconian)
- nüüx (Ripuarian)
- nühs (most of Ripuarian)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /niks/
Classical Nahuatl
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈníːʃ]
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /neɡs/, [neɡ̊s]
Alternative forms
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɪks/
- Hyphenation: nix
- Rhymes: -ɪks
Noun
nix m (plural nixen)
- nix, nixie (water spirit)
- Synonyms: nikker, watergeest
- 1956, s-Gravenhage. Maandblad der gemeente 's-Gravenhage, page 14:
- Zijn dit nu de nixen van Heinrich Heine of de zwanen van de Scandinavische ballades?
- Are these then Heinrich Heine's nixes or the swans of Scandinavian ballads?
German
Etymology
A widespread form in dialects all over the German language area, probably the same as standard nichts, that is, a contraction of it.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɪks/
(file) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪks
Pronoun
nix
- (colloquial) Alternative form of nichts (“nothing”)
- Ich hab nix gesehen. ― I saw nothing.
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *sniks (with oblique stem *sniɣʷ- > niv-), from Proto-Indo-European *snéygʷʰs (“snow”), root noun derived from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”) (whence also Latin nivit, ningit, ninguit). Direct cognates include Ancient Greek νίφα (nípha) and Old Irish snechtae and indirectly also Sanskrit स्नेह (sneha), Old Church Slavonic снѣгъ (sněgŭ) and Old English snāw and snīwan (English snow and snew).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /niks/, [nɪks̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /niks/, [niks]
Noun
nix f (genitive nivis); third declension
- snow
- (figurative) white hair
- (alchemy) Synonym of cadmia, zinc oxide
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | nix | nivēs |
| Genitive | nivis | nivium |
| Dative | nivī | nivibus |
| Accusative | nivem | nivēs nivīs |
| Ablative | nive | nivibus |
| Vocative | nix | nivēs |
Descendants
- Balkan Romance:
- Dalmatian:
- Insular Romance:
- Ibero-Romance:
- Italo-Romance:
- North Italian:
- Gallo-Romance:
- Vulgar Latin:
- Borrowings:
- → German: nix, nichts
- English: nill, nihil album
- French: nihil-gris, nihil-blanc
- → German: nix, nichts
References
- Buchi, Éva, Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008–) “*/ˈnɪβ-e/”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française.
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “nĭx”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 438
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “nĭx”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 7: N–Pas, page 156
Further reading
- “nix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “nix”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Low German
Derived terms
- nix för ungud (Paderbornisch); nix för ungood/nix för ungod (North-Western)
Romanian
Declension
References
- nix in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
Swedish
Interjection
nix
References
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