Nighest

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Definitions

1. Closest in distance, time, or relation, used in an archaic or poetic way to mean the most near
2. Being the one that is most adjacent or immediate in space or sequence, as an old-fashioned superlative
3. Situated at the shortest remove from a point of reference, nearest in an older literary sense

Etymology: "Nighest" is the superlative of "nigh," so it carries the same sense of "near" in its oldest form. Its root is "nigh" with the superlative ending "-est," which English has long used to build the highest degree of an adjective or adverb, as in "fast" becoming "fastest." Put together, "nighest" literally means "nearest," and it survives mostly in older or literary English. The surprising part is the relationship with "next." The two words are doublets, meaning they descend from the same ancestor but took different paths into modern English. "Next" is in effect the superlative of "nigh" as well, formed from the same root, yet its spelling and sound shifted over the centuries until it came to mean something close to "immediately following" rather than simply "closest." "Nighest" kept the older shape, so the two words sit side by side as a pair that split apart from a single source.

Synonyms: nearest, closest

Antonyms: farthest, furthest