Etymograph

English

nuisance

Nuisance comes from Anglo-Norman nusaunce, from Latin noceō ‘to injure, do harm to, hurt, damage’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- ‘perish, disappear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*neḱ-1‘perish, disappear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*noḱ-éye-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nokeō1‘to harm, hurt, injure’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnoceō2as nocēre‘to injure, do harm to, hurt, damage’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400nusaunce2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500noysaunce2‘Injury, harm, damage’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2010nuisance2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin noceo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English nuisance
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2010, Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data: “By itself, nondifferentiability at zero is a minor nuisance.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*neḱ-Wiktionary, Latin noceo‘perish, disappear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*noḱ-éye-tiWiktionary, Latin noceoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nokeōWiktionary, Latin noceo‘to harm, hurt, injure’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnoceōWiktionary, English nuisanceas nocēre‘to injure, do harm to, hurt, damage’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400nusaunceWiktionary, English nuisance
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500noysaunceWiktionary, English nuisance‘Injury, harm, damage’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2010nuisanceWiktionary, English nuisance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2010, Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data: “By itself, nondifferentiability at zero is a minor nuisance.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- ‘perish, disappear’

obnoxious, nectar, necropolis, internecine, 18 more

through Latin noceō ‘to injure, do harm to, hurt, damage’

innocent, innocence, innocuous, noxious, 13 more

Today it means

noun A minor annoyance or inconvenience.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “nuisance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin noceo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- / nuisance

Shirt and support for this word