Meanings
non-1
- 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.
nonaggressive (“not aggressive”)
1 more example
nonpayment (“lack of payment, failure to pay”)
- Not, the negation of the root word (a quality).
nonabrasive
3 more examples
nonaboriginal
nonabstract
Back in the mid-’90s, when Cacioppo was at Ohio State University (he is now at the University of Chicago), he and his colleagues sorted undergraduates into three groups—the non-lonely, the sort-of-sometimes lonely, and the lonely.
2013 May 13, Judith Shulevitz, “The Lethality of Loneliness”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2015
non-2
- prevocalic form of nona-
Synonyms & antonyms
prefixNot, the negation of the root word (a quality).
prefixAvoiding an action.
Origin
non- · prefix
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Germanic*ne
- Proto-Indo-European*ís?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁óynos
- Proto-Germanic*ainaz
- Proto-Germanic*nainaz
- Proto-West Germanic*nain
- Old Englishnān
- Middle Englishnon
- Old Englishnān
- Old Englishnān-
- Middle Englishnon-
- Englishnon-
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →non- · prefix
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁néwn̥
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁newn̥(n)ós
- Proto-Italic*nowenos
- Latinnōnus
- Englishnon-
From Latin nōnus (“ninth”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans nie-
- nie-not
Catalan no-
- no-not
Chinese Mandarin 不, 非
- 不 (bù-)not
- 非 (fēi-)not
- 無 /无 (wú-)not
Czech ne-, mimo-
- ne-not
- mimo-not
Dutch niet-
- niet-not
Esperanto ne-
- ne-not
Finnish ei-, epä-
- ei-not
- epä-not
French non-
- non-not
German nicht-, non-
- nicht-not
- non-not
Greek μη
- μη (mi)not
Hindi अ-, अन-
- अ- (a-)not
- अन- (an-)not
Irish mí-, neamh-
- mí-not
- neamh-not
Japanese 非, 不
- 非 (hi-)not
- 不 (fu-)not
- 無 (mu-)not
Korean 불, 비
- 불 (bul)not
- 비 (bi)not
- 무 (mu)not
Latin nōn
- nōnnot
Polish nie-
- nie-not
Portuguese não-
- não-not
Russian не-
- не- (ne-)not
Scottish Gaelic mì-, neo-
- mì-not
- neo-not
Spanish no, des-
- nonot
- des-not
- in-not
- non (disused)not
Swedish icke-, o-
- icke-not
- o-not
Turkish olmayan
- olmayannot
Ukrainian не-
- не- (ne-)not
Cite this entry
non-. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-
“non-.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “non-,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/non-.
Source: non- on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.