Nothing

How to spell nothing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce nothing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nothing mean?

1. pronounNot any thing; no single thing at all.

Nothing in a sentence

• There was nothing left in the fridge by Friday evening.

• She said nothing during the entire meeting.

Where does nothing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native Old English compound, formed from 'nan' meaning 'not one' or 'no' and 'thing', which in early English referred to a matter, affair, or assembly rather than just a physical object. Together 'nan thing' literally meant 'no single matter', and over the centuries it contracted and smoothed into the single familiar word we write today. The 'thing' element is one of the oldest words in the Germanic family; in Old Norse and Old English a 'thing' was a public meeting or council, a sense still preserved in the Icelandic parliament name 'Althing'. The spelling stayed remarkably stable because both halves were such common everyday words, and the silent collapse of two words into one is why we now write a single 'no' rather than a double 'n'. The main modern trap is simply remembering it is one word, not 'no thing'.

How the word is built

• no (not any)
• thing (object/matter)