nep
Translingual
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɛp/
- Rhymes: -ɛp
Etymology 1
From Middle English neppe, nepe, nepte, nept, from Old English nepte, nefte, from Latin nepeta. Compare Dutch neppe, nippe (“catnip”).
Alternative forms
- nip (dialectal)
Noun
nep (usually uncountable, plural neps)
- Catmint, catnip; Nepeta cataria.
- 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio, published 2007, page 201:
- Nep is generally used for women to procure their courses, being taken inwardly or outwardly, either alone or with other convenient herbs in a decoction to bathe them, of sit over the hot fumes thereof.
Etymology 2
Perhaps a variant of nap for knap, from Middle English knep, kneppe, knappe, a conflation of Old English cnep, cnæp, cnæpp (“top, knop, summit”) and Old Norse knappr (“knob”), both from Proto-Germanic *knappaz, *knappô (“knob”), from Proto-Indo-European *gnebʰ- (“to press, tighten”), from Proto-Indo-European *gen- (“to pinch, squeeze, bend, press together, ball”). Compare also Old Norse hnappr (“button”). Related to knob.
Verb
nep (third-person singular simple present neps, present participle nepping, simple past and past participle nepped)
- (UK, dialect, intransitive) Of cotton: to form knots.
Etymology 3
Short for nepotist.
Noun
nep (plural neps)
- (US, slang, derogatory) One who engages in nepotism, usually to the one who benefits from it.
Ainu
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ne̞p]
Usage notes
Less common in spoken language than hemanta.
Synonyms
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɛp/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: nep
- Rhymes: -ɛp
Inflection
Some Dutch speakers may consider attributive use of this adjective informal. Thus, the inflected form neppe is not very commonly used in more formal language. In such language, the word is used more often in compounds formed by prefixing with nep-. The predicative and partitive forms are used normally.
Inflection of nep | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | nep | |||
inflected | neppe | |||
comparative | nepper | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | nep | nepper | het nepst het nepste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | neppe | neppere | nepste |
n. sing. | nep | nepper | nepste | |
plural | neppe | neppere | nepste | |
definite | neppe | neppere | nepste | |
partitive | neps | neppers | — |