Etymologically
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nine

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /naɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nyne, nihene,[2][3] inherited from Old English nigon, nigen,[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *newun,[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *newn (“nine”).[4][5] It is cognate with Old Frisian nigun, Old Saxon nigun, Dutch negen, German neun, Old Norse níu and Gothic niun,[4][2] and outside Germanic with Latin novem, with m by analogy with septem and decem,[4][2] Greek ennéa, Old Irish nōi, Lithuanian devyni, Old Church Slavonic devętĭ and Sanskrit náva.[4][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English, about 840.[2][6] All the main number words go back to the most ancient times.[7]

Semantic evolution

As a symbol for the number it is from the late 14th century.[4] Nine days was proverbial from the mid-14th century for the time a novelty holds attention, and a nine days' wonder is from the 1590s.[4] The nine lives of a cat are from the 17th century,[4] and the Nine, the Muses, from about 1600.[4][6] Dressed up to the nines dates from the early 18th century, first meaning “to perfection”;[7] by the mid-19th century it was tied to smart dress.[7] The theory that it comes from the smartly dressed 99th Wiltshire Regiment is unlikely, since their reputation dates only from the 1850s.[7] Nine-to-five, the average working day, is from 1935.[4] Ninth was a new formation in the 12th century, replacing Old English nigoða.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 840 – Old English nigon.[2][6]
  • mid-14th century – nine days, a short wonder.[4]
  • late 14th century – the symbol.[4]
  • c. 1600 – the Nine, the Muses.[4][6]
  • early 18th century – to the nines.[7]
  • 1935 – nine-to-five.[4]

Modern meaning

Numeral

  1. The number one more than eight; 9.

Noun

  1. The figure 9; a set of nine people or things, such as a baseball team.
  2. A playing card with nine pips.

Word family

  • ninebark
  • ninepence
  • ninepenny
  • ninepin
  • nineteen
  • stanine
  • cat-o'-nine-tails
  • eighty-nine
  • ninth
  • ninety
  • ninepins
  • novena
  • November
  • nonagenarian

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 c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press