Etymology

nothing but

Today it means: Only. Full definition →

Middle English nothyng ← Old English nan
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromnan
  2. Middle English · inherited fromnothyng
  3. English todaynothing but

From Middle English nothyng but, from Old English nan þing butan

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishnothyng all →

nothing

Old Englishnan all →

nononenon-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.