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nesh

adj
/nɛʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, næsċe (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwī, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic 𐌷𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌵𐌿𐍃 (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.

  1. derived from *knēs-✻
  2. inherited from *hnaskuz✻ — “soft, tender”
  3. inherited from *hnaskwī✻
  4. inherited from hnesċe
  5. inherited from nesh

Definitions

  1. Soft

    Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.

  2. Delicate

    Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.

    • And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was.
    • No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides.
    • "I wouldn't have locked up Noakes and stolen a car if I'd known you couldn't pick the lock!" "Aye, exactly, you're nesh, so you needed encouragement."

  3. To make soft, tender, or weak.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. To act timidly.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for nesh. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA