Next
adjectiveComing immediately after in order, position, or time.
How to spell next
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce next
What does next mean?
- adjectiveComing immediately after in order, position, or time.
- adverbImmediately afterwards; on the following occasion.
Next in a sentence
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adjective
The next train departs in ten minutes.
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adverb
Finish the report first, and review the figures next.
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adjective
She has booked the appointment for next Tuesday.
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adverb
When you next visit the office, bring your badge.
Where does next come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word descends from the Old English nehst or niehst, which was the superlative form of neah, meaning 'nigh' or 'near'; in literal terms it meant 'nearest'. It belongs to the same Germanic family as the modern words 'nigh' and 'neighbour', the latter originally being a 'near-dweller'. Over centuries the sense narrowed from 'closest in space' to 'closest in order or time', giving us the everyday meaning of the one immediately following. The spelling preserves the old superlative ending, where the -hst cluster eventually simplified to the crisp -xt we write today. Related forms appear across the Germanic languages, such as Dutch 'naast' and German 'nachst', all carrying the idea of nearness.
How the word is built
- next (Old English nehst, superlative of neah 'nigh, near'), with the -st marking the superlative degree
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