no

no · determiner¹

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*nainaz“not any”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*nain
3. Old English · inherited fromnān“none, not any”
4. Middle English · inherited fromno
5. English todayno

Inherited from Middle English no, noo, na, a reduced form of none, noon, nan (“none, not any”) used before consonants (compare a to an), from Old English nān (“none, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“not any”, literally “not one”), equivalent to ne (“not”) + a. Piecewise doublet of none. Cognate with Scots nae (“no, not any, none”), Old Frisian nān, nēn ("no, not any, none"; > Saterland Frisian naan, neen (“no, not any, none”), North Frisian nian (“no, not any, none”)), Old Dutch nēn ("no, not any, none"; > Dutch neen (“no”)), Old Norse neinn (“no, not any, none”). Compare also Old Saxon nigēn ("not any"; > Low German nen), Old Dutch nehēn (Middle Dutch negheen/negeen, Dutch geen), West Frisian gjin, Old High German nihein (> German kein). More at no, one.

no · adverb, particle, preposition, noun, verb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*naiwô“never”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*naiwō
3. Old English · inherited fromnā
4. Middle English · inherited fromno
5. English todayno

Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), from *ne (“not”) + *aiwō (“ever”), equivalent to ne + aye. Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). Doublet of nay.

no · adverb, noun³

1. Latin · borrowed from(in) numerō“in number, to the number of”
2. English todayno

Variant of No., from the scribal abbreviation for Latin (in) numerō (“in number, to the number of”).

No · adverb, noun⁴

1. Latin · borrowed fromnumero“in number, to the number of”
2. English todayNo

Variant of No., from the scribal abbreviation for Latin numero (“in number, to the number of”).

No · noun⁵

1. Japanese · borrowed from能“[performing] skill, talent”
2. English todayNo

A macronless variant of Nō, the romanization of Japanese 能 (Nō, “[performing] skill, talent”).

Words from the same roots