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nuevo

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word nuevo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1044 More words from the 11th century
Inherited from
Latin novus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *néwos
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin novus
Aromanian nou
French neuf
Italian nuovo
Spanish nuevo
From the same root
Latin dēnuō ← novus
Latin novē ← novus
Latin novella ← novus
Latin novellus ← novus
Latin noverca ← novus
Latin novīcius ← novus
Latin novitās ← novus
Latin novō ← novus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈnwebo/, [ˈnwe.β̞o][1]

Forms

nuevo (feminine nueva, masculine plural nuevos, feminine plural nuevas, superlative novísimo or nuevísimo)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novus (“new”).[2][3][1] Old Spanish wrote it nuevo, mostly spelt ⟨nueuo⟩, with the rarer ⟨nouo⟩.[4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese novo, Galician novo, Asturian nuevu, Aragonese nueu, Catalan nou, Occitan nòu, French neuf, Italian nuovo and Romanian nou.[5][6][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *nowos, from Proto-Indo-European *néwos (“new”).[1][8] De Vaan gives as cognates Hittite nēwa- (“new, fresh”), Sanskrit नव (náva) and Ancient Greek νέος (néos); a variant *newyos is continued by Celtic, Baltic and Germanic words.[8] English new is a cognate too.[1] In Latin the /ow/ of the first syllable was kept, while the phrase dē novō (“anew”) became dēnuō.[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1044.[2][9] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it means “recent” as opposed to “old”: a stone cures a pain of the belly or liver at once „si la enfermedat es nueua”, “if the illness is new”, and helps much if it is old.[10]

Semantic evolution

The main modern senses are all in the prose of Alfonso X: “newly made”, “seen or heard for the first time”, “repeated so as to renew” and “different from what was before”.[10] The feminine noun nueva “news” is recorded from about 1140, and the singular la buena nueva still names the Gospel.[2][3] Covarrubias (1611) gives año nuevo and luna nueva and notes that the universities called first-year students nuevos.[11] Autoridades defines the word by the senses “newly made”, “seen or heard for the first time” and “repeated”, which the Academy has kept, with others added, ever since.[12][13][3]

In the Canaries nuevo means “young”, of people and animals, a use the Canarian historical dictionary attributes to Portuguese novo “young”;[14][15] Santamaría records the same sense in Spanish America for animals and plants.[14][15] The DLE now lists “young” as a general sense.[3] Puerto Rico and Chile say nuevo de paquete and the Dominican Republic nuevo de cajeta for “brand new”.[16] The family includes words of very different paths: novio (1220–1250) first meant only “newly married”, novel came from Catalan and novela (c. 1400) from Italian, where it first meant “news”.[2]

Timeline

  • 1044 – first record.[2]
  • c. 1140 – nueva “news”.[2]
  • 1220–1250 – novio, novillo and renovar.[2]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses nuevo for a recent illness.[10]
  • 1444 – novedad.[2]
  • 1515 – de nuevo “again”, in Tierra Firme.[17]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records año nuevo and luna nueva;[11][2] novato is first recorded.[11][2]
  • 1828–1873 – Álvarez Rixo uses nuevo “young” in the Canaries.[14]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. new, newly made: un coche nuevo.[3][1]
  2. Perceived or experienced for the first time: una sensación nueva.[3]
  3. Repeated so as to renew it: un nuevo intento.[3]
  4. Different from what there was or was known before: un método nuevo.[3]
  5. Added to what there was before: Han aparecido nuevos datos.[3]
  6. Recently arrived in a place or group: Soy nueva en la empresa.[3][18]
  7. A beginner in a profession or activity.[3]
  8. Of farm produce, of the latest harvest: ajos nuevos.[3]
  9. Little or not at all worn by use, as opposed to viejo: La chaqueta parece nueva.[3][1]
  10. young: un árbol nuevo.[3][15]

Noun

  1. (feminine, nueva) A piece of news: Traigo buenas nuevas.[3]

Word family

Usage notes

The superlative is novísimo or nuevísimo.[1] De nuevo means “again”, and la buena nueva is the Gospel.[19][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuevo
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. nuevo
  4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nuevo
  5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4628
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. novus
  7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 972
  8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 494
  10. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. nuevo
  11. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1168
  12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 689
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 699
  14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. nuevo
  15. ^ a b c Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 336
  16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. nuevo
  17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. nuevo
  18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuevo
  19. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. nuevo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nuevo.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/nuevo. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·