Etymology

non-

Today it means: Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed. Full definition →

Middle English non- ← Old English nān- ← Proto-West Germanic *nain
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non- · prefix1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Germanic*ne
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ís?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
  5. Proto-Germanic*ainaz
  6. Proto-Germanic*nainaz
  7. Proto-West Germanic*nain
  8. Old Englishnān
  9. Middle Englishnon
  10. Old Englishnān
  11. Old Englishnān-
  12. Middle Englishnon-
  13. English todaynon-

From Middle English non- (“not, lack of, failure to”), from Middle English non (“no, not any; not, not at all”, literally “none”) and Old English nān- (prefix), both from Old English nān (“no, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“none, nought, zero”), see none. Merged with and reinforced by Middle English non- (“not”), from Old French non- and Medieval Latin nōn (“not”), from Old Latin noinu, noinom, from ne oinom (“not one”).

non- · prefix2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁néwn̥
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁newn̥(n)ós
  3. Proto-Italic*nowenos
  4. Latinnōnus
  5. English todaynon-

From Latin nōnus (“ninth”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishnān all →

nononenothing but

Proto-West Germanic*nain all →

nonone

Proto-Germanic*nainaz all →

nonone

Old Frenchnon- all →

chalant

Latinnōnus all →

nonesnona-noncuplenonic

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.