nobody English · revision 3124

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1303, Handlyng Synne}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈnəʊ.bə.di/, /ˈnəʊ.bɒd.i/, US /ˈnoʊ.bɑː.di/, /ˈnoʊ.bə.di/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound, [[af|en|no|body]]: Middle English no “not any” and bodi “person”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “No person, no one”: about 1303, in Mannyng's ''Handlyng Synne'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) or 1338 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was written separately, as no body, from the 14th to the 18th century, and hyphenated in the 17th and 18th centuries.^(Etymonline) The use with they, their or them is attested from the 1540s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and Etymonline considers it incorrect.^(Etymonline) A person of no importance, influence or social position is a ''nobody'' from 1581,^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) and with a and the plural from 1583.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) Johnson (1755) quotes Shakespeare's “the picture of nobody” from ''The Tempest''.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1303 – no person.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1540s – followed by they or their.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1581 – a person of no importance.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1583 – ''a nobody'', ''nobodies''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # No person; not [[anyone]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person of no importance or [[influence]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[anybody]]

+ * [[everybody]]

+ * [[somebody]]

+ * [[nothing]]

+ * [[nowhere]]

+ * [[no one]]

+ * [[none]]

+ * [[body]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Nobody'' and ''no one'' are interchangeable,^(AHD) and both take a singular verb; in informal use they are often followed by ''they'' or ''their''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}