"n'est-ce pas" meaning in English

See n'est-ce pas in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

IPA: /nɛsˈpa/ [UK], /nɛsˈpɑː/ [UK] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-n'est-ce pas.wav
Rhymes: -ɑː Etymology: Borrowed from French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|n'est-ce pas ?||isn't it?}} French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”) Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|head=n'est-ce pas}} n'est-ce pas
  1. (chiefly humorous) Used to form tag questions. Tags: humorous
    Sense id: en-n'est-ce_pas-en-phrase-Xk9ydklO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "n'est-ce pas ?",
        "4": "",
        "5": "isn't it?"
      },
      "expansion": "French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "n'est-ce pas"
      },
      "expansion": "n'est-ce pas",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1935, Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River, page 763:",
          "text": "I know him well, we artists have the common touch, n'est-ce pas?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky, The Adolescent, translation of original by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, published 1875, page 527:",
          "text": "It is just a little quarrel of two most worthy women, n'est-ce pas",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to form tag questions."
      ],
      "id": "en-n'est-ce_pas-en-phrase-Xk9ydklO",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "tag question",
          "tag question#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly humorous) Used to form tag questions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛsˈpa/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛsˈpɑː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-n'est-ce pas.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː"
    }
  ],
  "word": "n'est-ce pas"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "n'est-ce pas ?",
        "4": "",
        "5": "isn't it?"
      },
      "expansion": "French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French n’est-ce pas ? (“isn't it?”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "head": "n'est-ce pas"
      },
      "expansion": "n'est-ce pas",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English humorous terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms borrowed from French",
        "English terms derived from French",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 2 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑː",
        "Rhymes:English/ɑː/2 syllables"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1935, Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River, page 763:",
          "text": "I know him well, we artists have the common touch, n'est-ce pas?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky, The Adolescent, translation of original by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, published 1875, page 527:",
          "text": "It is just a little quarrel of two most worthy women, n'est-ce pas",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to form tag questions."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ],
        [
          "tag question",
          "tag question#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly humorous) Used to form tag questions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛsˈpa/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛsˈpɑː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-n'est-ce pas.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7c/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-n%26%2339%3Best-ce_pas.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː"
    }
  ],
  "word": "n'est-ce pas"
}

Download raw JSONL data for n'est-ce pas meaning in English (2.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.