Where does “nonsense” come from?
Nonsense comes from Latin nōnā meaning "ninth hour of the day," from Latin nōnus meaning "ninth," from Latin novem meaning "nine."
nonsense (English): Letters or words, in writing or speech, that have...
Definitions
- Letters or words, in writing or speech, that have...
Ancestry of “nonsense”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | sense | Any of the manners by which living beings... |
| 2 | Middle English | sense | meaning, signification; interpretation |
| 3 | Old French | sens | reason; ability to reason or think |
| 4 | Latin | sēnsus | faculty or power of perceiving; perception, feeling, sensation, sense |
| 5 | Dutch | census | a census |
| 6 | Latin | census | census, a registering of the populace and their... |
| 7 | Latin | censeo | I give an opinion; I think, suppose or judge; I... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | kensēō | to give an opinion |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kensējō | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱens-éh₁-ye-ti | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱens- | to announce, to proclaim; to put in order |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱem- | to cover, conceal; hornless |