new
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "new", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "new" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "new" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
new is anEnglishadj. It means: Recently made, or created. Pronounced /njuː/. It ranks #65 in English word frequency. Often confused with NJ and ni.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | new |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /njuː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #65 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for new is 3 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /njuː/. Corpus data places it at rank #65 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for new in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NJ", "ni", "Ng", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English newe, from Old English nīewe, from Proto-West Germanic *niwi, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *néwyos (“new”), from *néwos. Compare also Old English nū (“now”). More at now. Doublet of nuevo, novuss, and neo-. Cogna… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is new, spelled N-E-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Recently made, or created.
- 2Recently made, or created.
- 3Additional; recently discovered.
- 4Current or later, as opposed to former.
- 5Used to distinguish something established more recently, named after something or some place previously existing.
- 6In original condition; pristine; not previously worn or used.
- 7Refreshed, reinvigorated, reformed.
- 8Newborn.
- 9Strange, unfamiliar or not previously known.
- 10Recently arrived or appeared.
- 11Inexperienced or unaccustomed at some task.
- 12Next; about to begin or recently begun.
Etymology
From Middle English newe, from Old English nīewe, from Proto-West Germanic *niwi, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *néwyos (“new”), from *néwos. Compare also Old English nū (“now”). More at now. Doublet of nuevo, novuss, and neo-. Cognates Cognate with Scots new (“new”), North Frisian nai, nei, nii (“new”), Saterland Frisian näi (“new”), West Frisian nij (“new”), Alemannic German nöi, nüüw (“new”), Bavarian neich (“new”), Cimbrian naüge (“new”), Dutch nieuw, nij (“new”), Dutch Low Saxon nij (“new”), German neu, new, neuw (“new”), Low German nee, neei (“new”), Luxembourgish nei (“new”), Yiddish נײַ (nay, “new”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish ny (“new”), Faroese nýggjur (“new”), Icelandic nýr (“new”), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌾𐌹𐍃 (niujis, “new”), Latin novus (“new”), Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”), Welsh newydd (“new”), Russian но́вый (nóvyj, “new”), Armenian նոր (nor, “new”), Persian نو (now, “new”), Northern Kurdish nû (“new”), Hindi नया (nayā, “new”), Tocharian B ñuwe (“new”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #65 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "new"?
What does "new" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "new"?
How do you pronounce "new"?
What is the origin of the word "new"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter N in our English index: