Etymologically
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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nexte, neste,[3][4] inherited from Old English nīehsta (“nearest”) (West Saxon), nēhsta, nēsta (Anglian),[5][6] the superlative of nēah (“near”) (see nigh),[5][4][7] from the Germanic root Proto-Germanic *nēhwiz (“near”) with a superlative suffix.[4][5] It is related to Dutch naast, German nächst and Old Norse næstr.[5][3][8] near was originally the comparative of nigh, and next its superlative.[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nearest in position or distance; closest in kinship (Old English nīehsta, about 725, in Beowulf).[6][5]

Semantic evolution

At first next meant simply “nearest”, of place, of a neighbour, or of kinship (next of kin);[5][10] Weekley notes that many such senses, as in the next way, now use nearest instead.[11][10] Of time, “immediately following”, it is recorded from about 1200, as are its adverbial and prepositional uses.[5][8] In Old English and early Middle English the adverb could also mean “last, most recently”, a sense lost by about 1400.[12][3] Next door first meant the door of the nearest house (about 1485), and as “very close” it dates from 1542.[6] Next-best is by the 1670s, and the next man, the average person, originally American, from 1857.[5][10] In recent London slang next is used for something new and exciting.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English nīehsta, in Beowulf.[6]
  • c. 1200 – of time, immediately following; as an adverb and preposition.[5]
  • c. 1485 – next door, the door of the nearest house.[6]
  • 1542 – next door, very close.[6]
  • 1670s – next-best.[5]
  • 1857 – the next man (US).[5][10]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Immediately following in time, order or sequence: next week or the next patient.
  2. Nearest in place; adjacent: the next room.
  3. Any other, taken as typical: as well as the next man.

Adverb

  1. Immediately afterwards; in the nearest place or order: next we drove home.
  2. On the first occasion to come: when next we meet.

Preposition

  1. (archaic) Nearest or adjacent to; next to.

Noun

  1. The next person or thing: from one day to the next.

Word family

  • next-door
  • nigh
  • near
  • neighbour

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com