Word origins

• NecessitasThe personification of absolute necessity; Ananke.
• necessitudeThe state or characteristic of being in need; neediness.
• necessitudinousCharacterized by or a result of necessity.
• nectareousPertaining to nectar; nectarous.
• ne exeatA common law writ prohibiting the departure of a person or of property from the jurisdiction of a court.
• nefandousUnspeakable, appalling.
• nefastwicked
• nefastiIn the calendar of Ancient Rome, those days on which business could not be transacted and assemblies and courts could not convene.
• nefastousinauspicious, disastrous, ill-omened
• negatorOne who, or that which, negates.
• neglectionneglect
• negotiatrixA female negotiator.
• negotiorum gestioA quasi-contract imposing a duty to reimburse an intervenor (gestor) who has seen to, managed, or looked after the affairs, property, or interests of another (dominus), but without the latter’s consent
• negotiosityThe ability to negotiate many things at once.
• negotiousEngaged in much business; busy.
• nemalineHaving the form of threads; fibrous.
• nematomorphAny of many worms of the phylum Nematomorpha.
• NemaususThe patron god of Nîmes during Roman times.
• nemine contradicenteWith nobody contradicting; by consensus; without dissent.
• nemoralPertaining to groves or woodland.
• nemorousForested; full of trees, dark with shady groves.
• neniaA funeral song; an elegy.
• NeocomianOf or pertaining to the Lower Greensand.
• neomeniaThe time of the new moon; the beginning of the month in the lunar calendar.
• NeoptolemusSon of Achilles
• neopulmoPart of the lung of birds formed by the parabronchi from the laterodorsal and lateroventral bronchi
• ne plus ultraThe highest, ultimate point of achievement which can be reached; perfection.
• nepotalOf or relating to a nephew.
• nepotarchyA government run by multiple members of the same family.
• nepoticidalOf or pertaining to nepoticide.
• nepoticideThe killing of one's own nephew.
• nerionoleander (Nerium oleander)
• NeronianOf or pertaining to the Roman emperor Nero, notorious for debauchery and barbarous cruelty.
• NeronicOf or relating to the ancient Roman emperor Nero.
• nervationA pattern of nerves, e.g. as seen on a leaf.
• nervosityThe state of being nervous; nervousness.
• nescienceThe absence of knowledge, especially of orthodox beliefs.
• nescientAn ignorant person.
• neteIn Ancient Greek musical theory, the highest-pitched fixed note in the farther tetrachord on a lyre, always pitched a perfect fourth above the paramese, with two movable notes between them, the trite (lower in pitch) and the paranete (higher in pitch). The paramese was higher-pitched than the mese (the highest-pitched fixed note in the nearer tetrachord on a lyre) by a ratio of 9:8.
• NethaniahA male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
• NeuriA nomad tribe of Scythia
• neuroliginAny of a class of transmembrane proteins that bind to neurexins
• neurospastA puppet; a marionette
• neutro-Neutral.
• New EveSynonym of Mary (“Mary, mother of Jesus”).
• New RomeSynonym of Constantinople (“Byzantium”) (Istanbul)
• NicanderA male given name from Latin Nicander [in turn from Ancient Greek Νίκανδρος (Níkandros)].
• niccoliteSynonym of nickeline.
• NicolochusA male given name of historical usage
• NicomachusA male given name from Ancient Greek.
• NicopolisFormer name of Preveza: a city in northwestern Greece; the former capital of Epirus Vetus, in the Roman Empire.
• nictateTo wink or blink; (of certain animals) to close the nictating membrane.
• nictitatingwinking, blinking
• nidamentalUsed to describe an internal organ, in some elasmobranchs and molluscs, that secretes egg cases or the gelatinous covering of eggmass.
• nidamentumegg case
• nidationThe implantation of the early embryo in the uterus.
• nidicolousTending to stay at the nest or birthplace for a long time after birth, due to dependence on the parents for feeding and protection.
• nidificateTo make or build a nest.
• nidifugousThat leaves the nest shortly after hatching.
• nidifyTo make a nest.
• nido-a nest-like structure
• nidologyThe study of nests.
• nidorThe smell of burning animals, especially of burning animal fat.
• nidulantNestling, as a bird in its nest.
• nigeranA polysaccharide found in black mold, Aspergillus niger.
• nigranilineA complex, nitrogenous, organic base and black dyestuff
• nigredoA process of putrefaction or decomposition, one of the four major stages of the alchemical magnum opus.
• nigrescenceThe process of becoming black or dark; blackening.
• nigrescentApproaching blackness; blackish, dark-coloured.
• nigrificationThe act or process of making black.
• nigrineA black ferruginous variety of rutile, or a compound of rutile and ilmenite.
• nigriteAn insulating material consisting of the impure residuum obtained in the distillation of paraffin.
• NigritiaSynonym of Negroland, a vague region inland from the Guinea coast, Sub-Saharan Africa or Black Africa generally.
• nigritudinousBlack in color.
• nigrosineA dark blue synthetic dyestuff of the induline group.
• nigrousBlack.
• nihilateTo annul.
• nihilationThe act of nihilating.
• nihil obstatA declaration of no objection; (specifically) a declaration used by the Catholic Church to indicate a book, initiative, or appointment to an office has been found to not breach religious or moral norms.
• nil-Zero.
• nil per osNothing by mouth: nothing may be eaten or drunk.
• nimbA nimbus or halo.
• nimbiferousForeboding clouds or stormy weather.
• nimbosecloudy
• nimietyState of being in excess, more than is needed.
• nimiousExcessive; extravagant; inordinate; vexatious.
• nine men's morrisAn ancient strategic board game for two players, each having nine pieces, and in which forming a row of three of one's own pieces earns the removal of one of the other player's pieces.
• NisibisSynonym of Nusaybin, a city in southeastern Turkey.
• nisi priusIn the 19th century, those legal actions tried before judges of the King's Bench Division, and in the early 20th century those actions tried at assize by a judge given a commission.
• nitencyendeavour; effort; tendency
• niticHaving a reasonable amount of clay, but that falls apart into flat-edged geometrical forms that have shiny faces
• nitidBright; lustrous; shining.
• nitidityQuality of being nitid; brightness; clarity.
• nitroleumNitroglycerine.
• nitrumniter
• niveousSnowy; resembling snow.
• nivometricRelating to the measurement of snowfall.
• N.N.Used as a substitute for an unknown name or one that the writer wishes not to reveal.
• nobile officiumThe equitable jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
• nobilifyTo make noble