ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nigh.

Near, close by.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/naɪ/

Near, close by.
archaic · poetic
The end is nigh!
Daybreak is drawing nigh.
Not remote in degree, kindred, circumstances, etc.; closely allied; intimate.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- Proto-Germanic *nēhwazder. Proto-Germanic *nēhw Proto-West Germanic *nāhw Old English nēah Middle English neygh English nigh Inherited from Middle English neygh, from Old English nēah, from Proto-West Germanic *nāhw, from Proto-Germanic *nēhw, from *nēhwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).

verb/naɪ/

to draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near
ambitransitive

Where this word comes from

adv/naɪ/

Almost, nearly.
not-comparable
We talked for nigh on to two hours.

Where this word comes from

prep/naɪ/

near; close to

Where this word comes from

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.