Flannery O'Connor
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Nary, most often used in the phrase "nary a" to mean "not a single," is an 18th-century alteration of the adjectival phrase "ne'er a," in which ne'er is a contraction of never. That contraction dates to the 13th century, and the word it abbreviates is even older: never can be traced back to Old English nǣfre, a combination of ne ("not" or "no") and ǣfre ("ever"). Old English ne also combined with ā ("always") to give us nā, the Old English ancestor of our no. Ā, from the Latin aevum ("age" or "lifetime") and Greek aiōn ("age"), is related to the English adverb aye, meaning "always, continually, or ever." This aye (pronounced to rhyme with say) is unrelated to the more familiar aye (pronounced to rhyme with sigh) used as a synonym of yes.
Examples of nary in a Sentence
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 8 Mar. 2025
There is nary a laugh to be found in the entire trailer, and the concept of the Powerpuff Girls growing up to be troubled twenty-somethings is bizarre in the first place, even if somehow Oscar-winner Diablo Cody was behind this idea.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
Even still, there was nary a reaction from the crowd.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 18 Feb. 2025
There’s nary a quarterback until the No. 15 slot, where Cam Ward resides.
—Chris Branch, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Nary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nary. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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