rien

Inherited from Middle French rien, from Old French rien, from Latin rem (“thing”). Compare Catalan res (“nothing”) or Galician ren (“nothing”).

• IPA^(key): /ʁjɛ̃/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [ʁjɛn]

• audio

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• Rhymes: -jɛ̃

rien

1. nothing
   • Antoine Lavoisier

     Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme.

     Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed.

   Je n’ai besoin de rien d’autre.

   I need nothing else.

2. (archaic) anything
   • 1630, François de Malherbe, Le traité des bienfaits de Sénèque, III, 10:

     En tous les bienfaits d’importance, la preuve ne peut avoir de lieu ; car il n’y a bien souvent que deux qui en sachent rien .

     In any good deed of importance proof is unnecessary; for perfectly often there are only two knowing anything of it.

• Word order:[1] When used as the direct object of a transitive verb, rien is placed in differing positions depending on what other elements are present in the sentence.
  • rien comes after a verb in simple tense.

    Je ne fais rien. ― I'm not doing anything.

  • As the direct object of a verb in compound tense, rien usually comes between the auxiliary and participle.

    Je n’ai rien dit. ― I didn't say anything.

    • When followed by a complément, rien usually comes after the participle element. [2]

      Je n’ai dit rien de tel. ― I said no such thing.

  • rien precedes a verb in the infinitive.

    Je ne veux rien faire. ― I don't want to do anything.

  • rien can either precede or follow the adverbial pronouns y or en with the second option being the more literary.

• que dalle

• rien de rien
• rien du tout

• ⇒ Louisiana Creole: arien
• ⇒ Saint Dominican Creole French: arien
  • Haitian Creole: anyen

rien m (plural riens)

1. a nothing

   petits riens – little things, little nothings

• ne
• néant
• pas

• nier, rein

• rijenn, rîgen

From Old Dutch *rīan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīhan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈriːən/

riën

1. to sew together, to put a thread through

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

• Dutch: rijgen
• Limburgish: riege

• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “riën (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page riën

From Old French rien.

rien f (plural riens)

1. thing (miscellaneous item)

• French: rien

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (rien)

• ren (Anglo-Norman)

From Latin rem, accusative of rēs.

• IPA^(key): /ˈri͡ɛn/
• Rhymes: -en

rien oblique singular, f (oblique plural riens, nominative singular riens, nominative plural riens)

1. thing; object
   • c. 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     "Dex te mete,
     Chevaliers, joie et cuer parfite
     De la rien qui plus te delite !"

     "That God gives you
     Knight, joy and a perfect heart
     From the thing that pleases you the most

2. being; creature

rien

1. thing
   • c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     "Oïl, mout m'an sovient il bien.
     Seneschaus, savez vos an rien?

     Yes, I remember it well
     Seneschal, do you know anything about it?

2. (used with "ne") nothing

• Middle French: rien
  • French: rien

rien

1. water

• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)