nep

See also: Nep, NEP, nép, nếp, and Nep.

Translingual

Symbol

nep

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Nepali.

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”). Doublet of nepeta.

Alternative forms

• nip (dialectal)

Noun

nep (usually uncountable, plural neps)

1. 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.

Noun

nep (plural neps)

1. (UK, dialect) A knot in a fibre of cotton.

Verb

nep (third-person singular simple present neps, present participle nepping, simple past and past participle nepped)

1. (UK, dialect, intransitive) Of cotton: to form knots.

Etymology 3

Short for nepotist.

Noun

nep (plural neps)

1. (US, slang, derogatory) One who engages in nepotism, usually to the one who benefits from it.

Anagrams

• PEN, PNe, Pen, pen

Ainu

Etymology

From ne (“interrogatory root”) +‎ p (“thing”). See nekon, nen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ne̞p]

Pronoun

nep (Kana spelling ネㇷ゚)

1. (interrogative) what

Usage notes

Less common in spoken language than hemanta.

Synonyms

• hemanta

See also

Personal			Qualitative	Quantitative	Temporal	Spacial
what?	who?	which?	what kind of? how?	how many?	when?	where?
hemanta, nep	hunna, nen	inan	mak, makanak, nekon	henpak	henpara	hunak

Ainu interrogative pronouns

Dutch

Etymology

From German Nepp. Originally Bargoens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nep
• Rhymes: -ɛp

Noun

nep m (uncountable)

1. imitation, fake

Adjective

nep (comparative nepper, superlative nepst)

1. fake, not real
2. artificial, not natural

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.

Declension 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	—

Synonyms

• namaak

Antonyms

• authentiek
• echt
• natuurlijk

Derived terms

• nepneutraliteit
• nepnieuws
• nepperd
• nepvlees

Anagrams

• pen

Middle English

Noun

nep

1. Alternative form of nap (“drinking bowl”)

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /neːp/

Adjective

nēp

1. scanty, lacking

Derived terms

• nēpflōd

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “nép”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.