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)

Italian

Etymology

From an earlier neente, either, from Latin ne gentem (“no person, no one”)[1] or from nec entem or ne entem[2][3], or from ne inde[4]. Compare Sicilian nenti, Piedmontese gnente, 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

Anagrams
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