Word.ws English Dictionary

non-

UK/ˈnɒn//ˈnɑn/

non- prefix: used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed.

Prefix (1)

non-

  1. Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed.
    • nonpayment (“lack of payment, failure to pay”)
    • nonaggressive (“not aggressive”)
    1. Not, the negation of the root word (a quality).
      • nonaboriginal
      • nonabrasive
    2. Absence, the absence of the root (a quantity).
      • nonaccountability
      • nonacceleration
    3. Avoiding an action.
      • nonabiding
      • nonacceptance
    4. Neutral in quality.
      • nonaccent
      • nonacrocentric

Prefix (2)

non-

  1. prevocalic form of nona-

Synonyms of non-

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of non-

Origin of non-

From Middle English non- (“not, lack of, failure to”), from Middle English non (“no, not any; not, not at all”, literally “none”) and Old English nān- (prefix), both from Old English nān (“no, not any”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“none, nought, zero”), see none. Merged with and reinforced by Middle English non- (“not”), from Old French non- and Medieval Latin nōn (“not”), from Old Latin noinu, noinom, from ne oinom (“not one”).

From Latin nōnus (“ninth”).

Words formed from non-

Questions about non-

What does non- mean?
Non- means used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed.
What part of speech is non-?
Non- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce non-?
Non- is pronounced /ˈnɒn/ (UK).

Words near non- in the dictionary

  1. non sequiturs
  2. non sequuntur
  3. non serviam
  4. non state actor
  5. non troppo
  6. non-
  7. non-24
  8. non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder
  9. non-A, non-B hepatitis
  10. non-A-E hepatitis
  11. non-Abelian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: non- (page history and authors). 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: En-us-non.ogg.

Cite this entry: “non-.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/non-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.