Etymology

neb

N1E1B3

Today it means: A bird's beak. Full definition →

Middle English neb ← Old English nebb ← Proto-Germanic *nabją
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*nabją“beak, nose”
  2. Old English · inherited fromnebb“beak, nose, face”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromneb
  4. English todayneb

From Middle English neb, from Old English nebb (“beak, nose, face”), from Proto-Germanic *nabją (“beak, nose”). Cognate with Danish næb, Dutch neb, German Schnabel, Old Norse nef, Swedish näbb, Swedish regional näv.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.