nill
/nɪl/noun
nill is spelled N-I-L-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 91,522nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nill means “Shining sparks thrown off from melted brass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in nill?
| Letters | 4: N-I-L-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 91,522nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is nill?
Nill appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 91,522nd 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 nill?
- /nɪl/
Nill 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).
Words people confuse with nill
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: nil (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of nill
- nills present, singular, he/she/it
- nilling participle, present
- nilled participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nill mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Shining sparks thrown off from melted brass.
- 2
Scales of hot iron from the forge.
- 3
obsoleteSynonym of zinc oxide, particularly white forms used in medicine and cosmetics.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo be unwilling; will not (+ infinitive).
- 2
archaicTo be unwilling.
- 3
archaicTo reject, refuse, negate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does nill come from?
Compare Irish néal and Scottish Gaelic neul (“star, light”). Compare nebula.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).