Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

nihil

/ˈnɪ.hɪl/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.19 in modern English

Syllables: ni-hil
IPA: /ˈnɪ.hɪl/

8

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Countable

noun

nothingness, nonbeing

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"I shall no longer believe all the visions of my youth: They have dissolved into nihil."
"All tales about the beginning are apt to eliminate the nothing and make being overall. […] Without Nihil the whirlpool of the beginning settles down and becomes a stagnant puddle of pure being. Nihil disappears."
"That is, in the sovereign act of creation, whereby YHWH orders chaos, YHWH provisionally defeated the power of the Nihil but did not destroy or eliminate the threat of chaos."

Etymology

From Latin nihil, nil.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: nihil

Usage

Inflected Forms

nihils (plural)

Derived Forms

nihilhood

Phrases

nihil obstat

Frequently Paired Words

nihilism nihil obstat

Rhymes With

trial mile kyle denial dial lyle niall vial lyell viol phial diel

Questions

How do you pronounce nihil?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈnɪ.hɪl/.
What does nihil mean?: A nihil dicit.
Where does nihil come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce nihil

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “nihil”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈnɪ.hɪl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “nihil”.
Repeat and practice — Say “nihil” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.