"nerve" meaning in Middle English

See nerve in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈnɛrv(ə)/, /nɛrf/ Forms: nerves [plural], nerf [alternative], nerfe [alternative], nerff [alternative], nerffe [alternative]
Etymology: Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus, from Proto-Italic *snēuros, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥; thus a doublet of synwe. Forms with /f/ reflect either final devoicing or Middle French nerf. Etymology templates: {{root|enm|ine-pro|*(s)neh₁-}}, {{bor+|enm|la-med|nervus}} Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus, {{der|enm|itc-pro|*snēuros}} Proto-Italic *snēuros, {{der|enm|ine-pro|*snéh₁wr̥}} Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥, {{doublet|enm|synwe|nocap=1}} doublet of synwe, {{cog|frm|nerf}} Middle French nerf Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|g=|g2=|g3=|head=|sort=}} nerve, {{enm-noun}} nerve (plural nerves)
  1. A nerve (bundle of neurons)
    Sense id: en-nerve-enm-noun-J5zUkJKP
  2. A tendon or sinew (band of collagen).
    Sense id: en-nerve-enm-noun-dzk8MBLI Categories (other): Anatomy Disambiguation of Anatomy: 8 55 36
  3. (botany, rare) Plant fibre. Tags: rare
    Sense id: en-nerve-enm-noun-gWTuX0YQ Categories (other): Botany, Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 20 16 64 Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: nervous

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "nerve"
    },
    {
      "lang": "Scots",
      "lang_code": "sco",
      "word": "nerve"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*(s)neh₁-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la-med",
        "3": "nervus"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "itc-pro",
        "3": "*snēuros"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Italic *snēuros",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*snéh₁wr̥"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "synwe",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "doublet of synwe",
      "name": "doublet"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "frm",
        "2": "nerf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French nerf",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus, from Proto-Italic *snēuros, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥; thus a doublet of synwe.\nForms with /f/ reflect either final devoicing or Middle French nerf.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nerves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerf",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerfe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerff",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerffe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "nerve",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nerve (plural nerves)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "nervous"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A nerve (bundle of neurons)"
      ],
      "id": "en-nerve-enm-noun-J5zUkJKP",
      "links": [
        [
          "nerve",
          "nerve#English"
        ],
        [
          "bundle",
          "bundle#English"
        ],
        [
          "neuron",
          "neuron#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "8 55 36",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Anatomy",
          "orig": "enm:Anatomy",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A tendon or sinew (band of collagen)."
      ],
      "id": "en-nerve-enm-noun-dzk8MBLI",
      "links": [
        [
          "tendon",
          "tendon"
        ],
        [
          "sinew",
          "sinew"
        ],
        [
          "band",
          "band#English"
        ],
        [
          "collagen",
          "collagen#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Botany",
          "orig": "enm:Botany",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 16 64",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Plant fibre."
      ],
      "id": "en-nerve-enm-noun-gWTuX0YQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "botany",
          "botany"
        ],
        [
          "Plant",
          "plant"
        ],
        [
          "fibre",
          "fibre"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(botany, rare) Plant fibre."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "biology",
        "botany",
        "natural-sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɛrv(ə)/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛrf/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nerve"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English doublets",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English nouns",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Medieval Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "Middle English terms derived from Proto-Italic",
    "Middle English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)neh₁-",
    "Pages with 8 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "enm:Anatomy"
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "nerve"
    },
    {
      "lang": "Scots",
      "lang_code": "sco",
      "word": "nerve"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*(s)neh₁-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la-med",
        "3": "nervus"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "itc-pro",
        "3": "*snēuros"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Italic *snēuros",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*snéh₁wr̥"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "synwe",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "doublet of synwe",
      "name": "doublet"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "frm",
        "2": "nerf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French nerf",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus, from Proto-Italic *snēuros, from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥; thus a doublet of synwe.\nForms with /f/ reflect either final devoicing or Middle French nerf.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nerves",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerf",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerfe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerff",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "nerffe",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "nerve",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nerve (plural nerves)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "nervous"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A nerve (bundle of neurons)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nerve",
          "nerve#English"
        ],
        [
          "bundle",
          "bundle#English"
        ],
        [
          "neuron",
          "neuron#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tendon or sinew (band of collagen)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tendon",
          "tendon"
        ],
        [
          "sinew",
          "sinew"
        ],
        [
          "band",
          "band#English"
        ],
        [
          "collagen",
          "collagen#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English terms with rare senses",
        "enm:Botany"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Plant fibre."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "botany",
          "botany"
        ],
        [
          "Plant",
          "plant"
        ],
        [
          "fibre",
          "fibre"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(botany, rare) Plant fibre."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "biology",
        "botany",
        "natural-sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnɛrv(ə)/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/nɛrf/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nerve"
}

Download raw JSONL data for nerve meaning in Middle English (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). 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.