nina
/ˈniːnə/
nina noun: a hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
Noun (1)
nina (plural ninas)
- A hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
- The puzzle itself was fairly easy however there was an elegant nina based on the middle entry (INSIDE STORY) in which each of the across answers hid a synonym of "story", e.g. 5A and 6A were: STABle gendER.2008 April 1, Ilan Caron, “Guardian Cryptic Crossword No. 24350 set by Brendan”, in rec.puzzles.crosswords (Usenet)
- Ninas may or may not be present and, even if one is there, it can go unnoticed because, not being intrinsic to the solution, its presence is not advertised—or because it is so well hidden.2014 August 10, Brian Bethune, “The crossword’s meandering 100-year journey”, in Maclean's
Proper noun capitalized: Nina
Nina
- A female given name in continuous use since the 19th century.
- The first three, Macklin, Lydia, and Randall, were the special ones. Even those names, we thought, showed greater imagination, greater involvement on our parents' part, than ours did: Nina, Mary, Sarah. Clearly by that time they had run out of gas.
- "Nina. Such a pretty, old-fashioned name. I hope you don't mind my saying that." "No; I'm glad you think so."1990, Sue Miller, Family Pictures, Harper & Row, →ISBN, pages 5, 25
- The Babylonian goddess of the watery deep, daughter of Ea.
- Ellipsis of Nina from Pasadena.
Noun (2) capitalized: Nina
Nina (plural Ninas)
- Alternative letter-case form of nina (“a hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword”).
- Ninas are also a way for setters to flex their muscles.2013, Alan Connor, Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword
Noun (3) capitalized: NINA
NINA (plural NINAs)
- A NINA loan.
Phrase capitalized: NINA
NINA
nina meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
nina in Hindi
- नीना, निना
nina in Tamil
- நினா, நின்யா
nina in Marathi
- नीना, निना
nina in Urdu
- نینا, نینہ
More languagesFewer languages
- nina in Bengali
- নিনা, নীনা
- nina in Telugu
- నినా, నీనా
- nina in Malayalam
- നിനാ, നീന
- nina in Kannada
- ನಿನಾ
- nina in Punjabi
- ਨੀਨਾ
- nina in Gujarati
- નીના, નિના
- nina in Odia
- ନିନା, ନୀନା
- nina in Nepali
- नीना, निना
Forms of nina
| plural | ninas |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Nina |
| plural | Ninas |
| plural | NINAs |
Origin of nina
From the name Nina, taken from the cartoonist Al Hirschfeld's habit of hiding his daughter Nina's name in his drawings.
Borrowed into English in the nineteenth century, apparently from several sources. Many borrowings are of Russian Ни́на (Nína), the name of a Georgian saint in the fourth century, also known as Nino, of obscure origin and meaning, possibly connected with the Assyrian king Ninus. Others are of an Italian short form of diminutives like Annina from Anna and Giovannina from Giovanna. Phonologically or orthographically similar names are present in several languages, including Afrikaans, Hindi, Italian, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and some Native American languages. In many of those, it is a nickname for names ending in -ina or -nina. (hidden message in crossword): After Nina Hirschfeld, the daughter of the American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld; her name was often concealed in his drawings.
See NINA loan.
Words formed from nina
Phrases with nina
Words that rhyme with nina
37 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- semolina
- subpoena
- cantina
- falanghina
- galena
- latina
- piscina
- Thumbelina
- Tryphena
- Afro-Latina
- Antiochena
- Apamena
- Argentina
- Atropatena
- Ballymena
- barracudina
- Brangelina
- Damascena
- Dina
- doubting Thomasina
- gmina
- Halyna
- Jelena
- Laodicena
- Malaspina
- marina
- Media Atropatena
- okina
- Palmyrena
- Rina
- Sheena
- spirulina
- Thomasina
- Tumblrina
- verbena
- Vojvodina
- Xena
Questions about nina
- What does nina mean?
- Nina means a hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
- What is nina in Hindi?
- Nina in Hindi is नीना, निना. See Nina meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is nina?
- Nina can be a noun, a proper noun or a phrase.
- How do you pronounce nina?
- Nina is pronounced /ˈniːnə/.
- What is the plural of nina?
- The plural of nina is ninas.
Words near nina in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nina (page history and authors); Nina (page history and authors); NINA (page history and authors); nina (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nina (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Nina.wav.
Cite this entry: “nina.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nina. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.