ne
/nə/adverb
ne is spelled N-E: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, ne means “Not” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ne?
| Letters | 2: N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 11 times per million words; the 6,565th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ne?
Ne appears 11 times per million words in written English, the 6,565th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ne?
- /nə/
Ne has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ne.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-né.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ne
Sounds like: Neagh, nay (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does ne mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Not.
For she ne dare doo, but to commande.
- 2
"Isn't that so?" (used in representations of Maori English).
noun
- 1
Initialism of northeast, a cardinal point of the compass.
- 2
Initialism of norepinephrine.
- 3
Initialism of northern epilepsy syndrome
adjective
- 1
Initialism of northeastern.
- 2
Initialism of not evaluated.
adjective
- 1
Used when giving the former name of a man.
Sting, né Gordon Sumner
- 2
Used when giving a man's name of birth, which was legally changed after.
particle
- 1
Yeah? not so? hey?
so I saw this girl né, and I wanted to talk to her...
adverb
- 1
colloquialAs interrogative particle: "isn't that the case?"; also used with emphatic effect.
conjunction
- 1
obsoleteNor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ne in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense compass point:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ne come from?
From Middle English ne, from Old English ne, from Proto-West Germanic *ne, from Proto-Germanic *ne, from Proto-Indo-European *né.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).