Etymologically
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none

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English non, none,[2][3] inherited from Old English nān (“not one, not any, no person”),[2][3][4] from ne “not” and ān “one”,[2][5][4] the source of no and one.[3][2] Its cognates include Old Saxon nēn, Old Norse neinn, and Dutch neen and German nein “no”,[2][5] and it is analogous to Latin nōn.[2][5] It is thus the negative of one, an and a.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English nān is recorded probably about 750,[3] and the OED's first example, “no one, not any of a number”, is from 835.[6] Middle English non is from probably about 1150.[3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it was used from late Old English, but from about 1600 it was reduced to no, except in a few archaic phrases, especially before vowels, such as none other.[2] The adverb, “by no means”, is from the 1650s,[2][7] and “in no respect, to no extent”, as in none the worse, from 1799.[2] The plural use, “no persons”, is as old as the singular.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 750 – Old English nān.[3]
  • 835 – no one of a number.[6]
  • c. 1600 – adjective use reduced to no.[2]
  • 1650s – adverb, by no means.[2]
  • 1799 – adverb, to no extent.[2]

Modern meaning

Pronoun

  1. Not any; not one: none of the guests came.
  2. No one; nobody.
  3. No part; nothing: none of it was true.

Adverb

  1. Not at all; in no way: none the wiser.

Adjective

  1. (archaic) Not any; no.

Word family

  • none-so-pretty
  • nonesuch
  • all-or-none

Usage notes

It is often said that none means “no one” and so takes a singular verb, but it has been used with both singular and plural verbs since Old English times,[8] and the plural is common when it refers to more than one person or thing.[8][6] A separate none, usually nones, is a church service of the ninth hour, from Latin nōna, the source of noon.[4][9][1] In British English the pronunciation /nɒn/ is increasingly heard.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  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. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press