Join free

nief

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

nief¹

  • /niːf/

Rhymes with -iːf

Where it comes from

From Old French [Term?], from Latin nativus (“natural”). Doublet of naif and native.

noun niefs · neif

  1. historical A serf or bondsman born into servitude. That is, because the girl was his nief, or bondwoman, the daughter of one of his villains

nief²

  • /niːf/

Rhymes with -iːf

Where it comes from

From Middle English neve (“the clenched hand, fist”), from Old Norse nefi, hnefi (also knefi) ("hand, fist, handful"), from Proto-Germanic *hnefô, from Proto-Indo-European *knep- (“to scrape, scratch, grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to scratch, scrape”). Cognate with Scots neif (“fist”), Norwegian neve, Danish næve, Swedish näve, Middle High German nevemez (“handful”).

noun niefs · nieves · neif · nieve · nef · nefe

  1. Ireland, Northern England, Scotland A clenched hand; fist. Ake thought if ever he was walking alone on a dark-like night and Jimmy came on him, he with his bare nieves and Jimmy with a knife, he'd stand as much chance of getting home safe as a celluloid cat that had strayed into hell[…].
  2. Ireland, Northern England, Scotland A handful or fistful.
  3. Ireland, Northern England, Scotland The handgrip of a sword or oar.

Translations

Every language

noun serf or bondsman born into servitude

DeutschSklave, Leibeigene
Русскийраб rab, раба́ rabá

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"nief." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nief. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

nief. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nief

Chicago

"nief." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nief.

BibTeX
@misc{nief_2026,
  title = {nief},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nief},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}