Nait

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Use; profit; foredeal; advantage. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
  2. 2
    An abnormally low number of platelets in a newborn's blood, due to the mother's antibodies having been passed via the placenta and attacking the child's own platelets. uncountable
  3. 3
    Use; end; purpose. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
Verb
  1. 1
    To refuse; deny; disclaim. transitive
  2. 2
    To use; employ. transitive
  3. 3
    To go over; recite; repeat. transitive
  4. 4
    To exert oneself. reflexive
Adjective
  1. 1
    Useful; good at need; fit; able. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
  2. 2
    Quick and effective; deft; skilful. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal
  3. 3
    In good order; trim; tidy; dainty; clean. Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal

Example

More examples

"People can accuse me of lying, but can they deny brilliant linguists like Salem Chaker, Kamel Nait Zerrad or Miloud Taifi when they claim that Berber is a language?"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English naiten, nayten, borrowed from Old Norse neita, later variant of níta (“to deny, refuse”). Cognate with Icelandic neita (“to deny”), Danish nægte (“to deny”), Old English nǣtan (“to annoy, afflict, press upon”). More at nyte, nay.

Etymology 2

From Middle English naiten, nayten, from Old Norse neyta (“to use, employ”), from Proto-Germanic *nautijaną (“to use”). Cognate with Icelandic neyta (“to make use of, employ”). Related to Old English nēotan (“to use; to enjoy”). More at note.

Etymology 3

From Middle English naite, from Old Norse neyte, neyti (“use”), from Proto-Germanic *nautiz (“use”).

Etymology 4

From Middle English nait, nayt, from Old Norse neytr (“in good order, fit, fit for use”), from Proto-Germanic *nautiz (“useful, helpful”). Compare Old English nyttol (“useful”).

Etymology 5

Abbreviation of neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.