Naebody

Part of speech: pronoun

Definitions

1. A Scots word meaning no person at all, used to say that there is not a single individual in a place or situation
2. The Scottish form of nobody, referring to a person who does not exist or is not present in a given setting
3. In Scots speech, a way of saying that not one human being is there, applies, or counts for anything

Etymology: "Naebody" is a Scots word meaning "nobody," formed from "nae," the Scots form of "no" (from Old Norse "nei" or related Scandinavian forms, in the north of Britain), and "body," a word that has been used since Old English for a person. The combination follows the same pattern as "nobody" in standard English, where "no" and "body" are joined in the same way. The word is mainly found in Scots and in northern English dialects, and it remains in everyday speech in parts of Scotland. Because "nae" survives as a regional form of "no," the word shows how Scots kept older Germanic vocabulary that standard English tended to lose or change.