Kilo Lingo

/ʁjɛ̃/

Line drawing of rien
Coloured illustration of rien
#67 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

nothing, not anything

Word origin

From Latin rem, the accusative of res ('thing'). It originally meant 'thing' and acquired its negative sense ('nothing') from use in negative clauses with ne.

Origin
Latin
Root
rem (res)
English cognates
real, republic

Examples

' .

There's nothing to eat in the kitchen.

, ' .

It doesn't matter, don't worry.

' .

He said nothing throughout the whole meeting.

' .

He didn't say anything during the whole meal.

, .

There's no point running, the train has already left.

Used in

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This word is part of lesson 2.