nerve
/nɝv/noun, verb
nerve is spelled N-E-R-V-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nerve means “A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nerve is nerves.
How many letters and syllables are in nerve?
| Letters | 5: N-E-R-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is nerve?
Nerve appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th 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 nerve?
- UK /nɜːv/
- British /nəːv/
- US /nɝv/
Nerve 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: En-us-nerve.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with nerve?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as nerve from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹv/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: never.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of nerve
- nerves plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- nerving participle, present
- nerved participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nerve mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics.
The nerves can be seen through the skin.
- 2
colloquialnonstandardA neuron.
- 3
A vein in a leaf; a grain in wood.
Some plants have ornamental value because of their contrasting nerves.
- 4
Courage; boldness; audacity; gall.
He had the nerve to enter my house uninvited.
- 5
Patience; stamina; endurance, fortitude.
The web-team found git-sed is really a time and nerve saver when doing mass changes on your repositories
- 6
One's neural structures considered collectively as, and conceptually equated with, one's psyche.
All these rationalizations for asinine behavior are getting on my nerves.
- 7
Mental agitation caused by fear, stress or other negative emotions.
Ellie had a bad case of nerves before the big test; she was a bundle of nerves.
- 8
The elastic resistance of raw rubber or other polymers to permanent deformation during processing.
The nerviness (ability to recover quickly from strain or stretching) ... generally requires it to be broken down or masticated on the mill before the other compounding ingredients are added. In the break-down operation, heat is inherently g
verb
- 1
To give courage.
May their example nerve us to face the enemy.
- 2
To give strength; to supply energy or vigour.
The liquor nerved up several of the men after their icy march.
- 3
informalTo perform a neurectomy on (someone or something).
- 4
informalrareTo get on (someone’s) nerves; to annoy, irritate, or bother (someone).
- 5
informalrareTo be nervous.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nerve in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | nerf , nervure , toupet, culot, cran |
| German | Nerv , Unverschämtheit , Mut , Ausdauer, Geduld |
| Portuguese | nervo , nervura |
| Spanish | nervio , descaro, frescura , coraje , nervios |
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 nerve come from?
Recorded since circa 1374 as Middle English nerve, from Medieval Latin nervus (“nerve”), from Latin nervus (“sinew”). Doublet of neuron and sinew. Verb sense 4 (“to get on (someone’s) nerves”) is chiefly a semantic loan from German nerven.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).