Wiktionary

nix

See also: Nix and *nix

English

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WOTD – 26 November 2008

Etymology 1

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From German nix, colloquial form of nichts (“nothing”).[1][2] Compare also Dutch niks (“nothing”), informal for niets (“nothing”). More at naught.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nix (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial) Nothing. [from 1789]
    Synonyms: nada, zip
    • 1912, Edna Ferber, “Maymeys from Cuba”, in Buttered Side Down:
      "That's a clean lift from Kipling—or is it Conan Doyle? Anyway, I've read something just like it before. Say, kid, guess what these magazine guys get for a full page ad.? Nix. That's just like a woman. Three thousand straight. Fact."
    • 1920, Harold MacGrath, chapter 26, in The Drums of Jeopardy:
      "I can take you down, Miss Conover, but I cannot take Mr. Hawksley. When the boss gives me an order I obey it—if I possibly can. On the day the boss tells me you can go strolling, I'll give you the key to the city. Until then, nix! No use arguing, Mr. Hawksley."
Translations
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Verb

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nix (third-person singular simple present nixes, present participle nixing, simple past and past participle nixed)

  1. To make something become nothing; to reject or cancel. [from 1903]
    Synonyms: cancel, reject
    Nix the last order – the customer walked out.
    • 1935 July 17, “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”, in Variety, volume 119, number 5, page 1:
      Sticks Nix Hick Pix [headline]
    • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
      He said his roommate had reacted favorably & said he "wanted to share the bed" with him! So I figured that nixed me out of the picture at least for now.
    • 1999, Owen W. Linzmayer, Apple Confidential, San Francisco: No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 242:
      The move came less than six months after Jobs had nixed the spin-off of Newton Inc. as an independent company and brought it back inside Apple (see “The Fallen Apple,” page 143).
    • 2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1]:
      At work Mr. Burns spies Homer munching complacently on a donut and hisses that each donut Homer shoves into his fat face brings him one donut closer to the poisoned donut Mr. Burns has ordered thrown into the mix as a form of culinary Russian Roulette, only to learn from Smithers that the plant’s lawyers ultimately nixed the poisoned donut plan because “they consider it murder.”
  2. To destroy or eradicate.
Translations
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Interjection

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nix

  1. No! Not at all!
    • 1916 January, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 472, column 2:
      "Ugh! An inventor, eh?" "Nix! He's not an inventor himself, but he antes-up for 'em."
  2. (obsolete) A warning cry when a policeman or schoolmaster etc. was seen approaching.
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References

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  1. ^ “nix”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “nix”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology 2

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From German Nix, from Middle High German nickes, niches, from Old High German nichus, nihhus, from Proto-Germanic *nikwus (“water-spirit; nix”), from Proto-Indo-European *neygʷ- (“to wash”). Cognate with Old English nicor (“a water-monster; hippopotamus”).

Noun

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nix (plural nixes)

  1. A treacherous water-spirit
    Hyponym: nixie
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Anagrams

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Bavarian

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Etymology

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Contraction of Middle High German nihtes niht (“nothing of nothing”), from Old High German niowiht, from nio (“never”) + wiht (“being, creature”), whence also ned (“not”), net, and German nicht, nichts. Compare also Central Franconian nüüx, nuuks, neihst, nühs.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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nix (indefinite)

  1. nothing
    Nix mehr då. ― Nothing left.

Central Franconian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From German nix. Compare Central Franconian nüüx and nühs, also Bavarian nix.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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nix (indefinite)

  1. nothing

Classical Nahuatl

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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nīx (inanimate)

  1. first-person singular possessive singular of īxtli; (it is) my eye.
  2. first-person singular possessive plural of īxtli; (they are) my eyes.

Danish

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Etymology

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From German nix, nichts (“nothing”).

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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nix

  1. no, no way

Alternative forms

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Pronoun

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nix

  1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of niks

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from German Nixe.

Noun

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nix m (plural nixen)

  1. nix, nixie (water spirit)
    Synonyms: nikker, watergeest
    • 1956, s-Gravenhage. Maandblad der gemeente 's-Gravenhage, page 14:
      Zijn dit nu de nixen van Heinrich Heine of de zwanen van de Scandinavische ballades?
      Are these then Heinrich Heine's nixes or the swans of Scandinavian ballads?

Etymology 2

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Possibly from German nix.

Pronoun

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nix

  1. (slang) Deliberate misspelling of niks.

German

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Etymology

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A widespread form in dialects all over the German language area, probably the same as standard nichts, that is, a contraction of it.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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nix

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of nichts (“nothing”)
    Ich hab nix gesehen. ― I saw nothing.

Descendants

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  • → English: nix
  • → French: nix

Interjection

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nix

  1. no way!
    Nix! Jetzt ist Schluss hier!
    No way! That's it now!

Further reading

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  • “nix” in Duden online
  • “nix” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Latin

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Etymology

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From Proto-Italic *sniks (with oblique stem *sniɣʷ- > niv-), from Proto-Indo-European *snéygʷʰs (“snow”), root noun derived from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”) (whence also Latin nivit, ningit, ninguit). Direct cognates include Ancient Greek νίφα (nípha) and Old Irish snechtae and indirectly also Sanskrit स्नेह (sneha), Old Church Slavonic снѣгъ (sněgŭ) and Old English snāw and snīwan (English snow and snew).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nix f (genitive nivis); third declension

  1. snow
    • 16 BCE, Ovid, The Loves 3.6.92–93:
      Fontis habēs īnstar pluviamque nivēsque solūtās,
           quās tibi dīvitiās pigra ministrat hiemps.
      For a source you have the rain and the melting snows,
           riches which lazy winter administers to you.
  2. (figurative) white hair
    • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes 5.13.9–12:
      Importūnus enim trānsvolat āridās
      quercūs et refugit tē, quia lūridī
         dentēs tē, quia rūgae
           turpant et capitis nivēs.
      For he flies, importune, past the dry
      oaks and avoids you, because the yellowed
         teeth, because the wrinkes
           and the white hair make you ugly.
  3. (alchemy) Synonym of cadmia, zinc oxide

Declension

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Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative nix nivēs
Genitive nivis nivium
Dative nivī nivibus
Accusative nivem nivēs
nivīs
Ablative nive nivibus
Vocative nix nivēs
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Descendants

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References

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Further reading

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  • “nix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “nix”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Low German

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Compare to German nichts (“nothing”)

Pronoun

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nix

  1. nothing

Derived terms

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Pennsylvania German

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Etymology

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Compare German nichts.

Pronoun

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nix

  1. nothing

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French nix.

Noun

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nix m (plural nicși)

  1. nixie

Declension

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Declension of nix
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) nix nixul (niște) nicși nicșii
genitive/dative (unui) nix nixului (unor) nicși nicșilor
vocative nixule nicșilor

References

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  • nix in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Sui

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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nix

  1. mother

Swedish

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Etymology

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From German nichts (“nothing”).

Interjection

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nix

  1. (colloquial) nope
    Synonym: nix pix
    Någon undrade om guldfonder, men nix sade Claes, alltför osäkert.
    Someone asked about gold funds, but Claes said "nope, too risky".
    – Är det någon vi känner? Frågade pappa. – Nix, svarade jag.
    Dad asked "Is it someone we know?" "Nope", I answered.

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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