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Etymology and origin of the English word nix

Pronunciation

nix1 nothing; to veto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1753 J. Poulter, Discoveries
Borrowed from
German nix
Ultimate origin
Old High German niwiht

Etymology

The word for "nothing" is borrowed from German nix,[2][3][4][5] a colloquial and dialectal shortened form of nichts (“nothing”),[2][3][4][6] the genitive of nicht.[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged trace nichts to Middle High German nihtes, the genitive of niht (“nothing”),[4][5][7] from Old High German niwiht, also neowiht,[7][8] formed from ni (“not, no”) and wiht (“thing, creature”);[4][5][9] the first element is from Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”).[4][9] The Old High German word is related to Old English nāwiht (“nothing”), the source of naught,[8][5][7] and its second element to wight.[5] Barnhart calls the borrowing probable.[5] The OED compares Dutch niks, recorded from 1784 and also from German.[2] The adverb, adjective and verb are formed from the noun.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a warning cry, "beware!", "look out!": 1753, in J. Poulter's Discoveries.[2] The noun, "nothing; nobody", follows in 1781, in G. Parker's View of Society and Manners,[2][7] and Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1789,[5][4] the year of Parker's Life's Painter, in which he wrote that he did not know how a German word had got into cant, where nicks meant nothing.[10]

Semantic evolution

The word began in thieves' cant and slang.[10][2] Thieves' phrases included nix my dolly, nothing or perhaps "never mind" (1795–1879), and to keep nix, to keep watch (from 1869).[2] In English dialect nix survived as a warning cry: the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Lancashire, the Isle of Man and Cheshire, at Manchester Grammar School, and among the street boys of Carlisle, who still warned each other in 1902 that "nix is coming".[11] In the United States the word took new parts of speech: the adverb "no, not at all" from 1862,[2][7] the phrase nix on, enough of, from 1902,[2] and the verb "to cancel, reject, forbid" from 1903, in George Ade.[2][4][5] Barnhart dates the adverb to 1909.[5] In 1879–83 American postal regulations used nixes for letters that could not be delivered.[2] The adjective, from 1846, often appears in imitations of German speech, as in nix fish-tins for nichts verstehen.[2] Collins labels the word US and Canadian informal.[6]

Timeline

  • 1753 – interjection, “beware!”, “look out!”.[2]
  • 1781 – noun, nothing; nobody.[2][7] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1789.[5][4]
  • 1795 – nix my dolly, nothing (obsolete by 1879).[2]
  • 1846 – adjective, no, not any.[2]
  • 1862 – adverb, no, not at all.[2][7]
  • 1869 – to keep nix, to keep watch.[2]
  • 1902 – nix on, enough of, no more of.[2]
  • 1903 – verb, to cancel, reject or forbid.[2][5][4]
  • 1934 – nix out, to get rid of.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (slang) Nothing at all; nobody: All that work earned him nix.[7][6][2]
  2. (slang) A rejection or refusal.[6]

Adverb

  1. (slang) No; not at all, used to refuse or disagree.[7][6][2]

Interjection

  1. A warning cry: look out!, be careful![6][2][11]

Verb

  1. (slang) To veto, cancel, reject or forbid: The board nixed the plan for a new car park.[7][6][2]

nix2 water sprite

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1833 T. Keightley, The Fairy Mythology
Borrowed from
German Nix
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *nikwus

Etymology

The word for the water sprite is borrowed from German Nix,[2][3][5][7] from Middle High German nickes,[9][12][8][3] from Old High German nihhus (“water monster, water sprite”),[5][8][7] from Proto-Germanic *nikwus (“water spirit”).[13][1] The Old High German word is cognate with Old English nicor (“water monster, hippopotamus”),[5][8][14] the source of the archaic English nicker, a water demon,[15][2] and with Middle Dutch nicor, modern Dutch nikker, and Old Norse nykr (“water goblin, hippopotamus”).[5][8] Köbler traces the Germanic noun to Proto-Indo-European *neigʷ- (“to wash”),[13] and Klein compares Ancient Greek νίζω (nízō, “I wash”).[8] The feminine counterpart is Nixe, the source of nixie,[8][12] which the OED records earlier in English.[2] The OED compares French nix, recorded from 1832.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A water sprite of Germanic folklore: 1833, in Thomas Keightley's The Fairy Mythology.[2][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1833.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its folkloric meaning, as a learned borrowing used for the German water spirit.[5][2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes the nix as a creature imagined in many forms, often as a woman or as half human and half fish, living in fresh water, usually in a beautiful palace, and generally unfriendly to people.[7]

Timeline

  • 1833 – a water sprite in German folklore.[2][5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In Germanic folklore, a water sprite, often thought of as half human and half fish and as unfriendly to people; a nixie.[7][6][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  14. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  15. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nix.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/nix. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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