nation

See also: nâtion and Nation

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: nā'shən, IPA^(key): /ˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Etymology 1

From Middle English nacioun, nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). Displaced native Old English þēod.

Noun

nation (plural nations)

2. (collective) A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.

   Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) people

   The Roma are a nation without a country.

   pre-Columbian nations

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:27:

     All the ends of the woꝛld ſhall remember, and turne vnto the Lord: and all the kinreds of the nations ſhall woꝛſhip befoꝛe thee.

   1. (by extension, informal, often humorous) A community united by some trait (especially an interest) but not historically constituted.

      the Dallas Cowboys nation

      • 2016 May 5, Johansson Anna, “5 Marketing Tips for Reaching the DIY Generation”, in Entrepreneur‎^[1], retrieved 2023-12-21:

        Did Pinterest create a culture of do-it-yourselfers, or did the DIY nation create Pinterest? The answer may not be certain, but we do know that a lot of customers love to do things on their own.

3. (international law, metonymically) A sovereign state; (loosely, metonymically, proscribed) a country.

   Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[2], volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]:  […] perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.

4. (chiefly historical) An association of students based on the birthplace or ethnicity of its members.

   Synonym: student nation

   Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, nations are now largely restricted to the ancient universities of Sweden and Finland.

5. (obsolete) A great number; a great deal.
   • 1762, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, new edition, volume V, Altenburgh: G. E. Richter, published 1772, page 57:

     […] and what a nation of herbs he had procured to mollify her humours, &c. &c. […]

6. In North America, an Indigenous people and their federally recognized territory.

   The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area.

Usage notes

• (British) Following the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, England, Scotland and Wales are normally considered distinct nations. Application of the term nation to the United Kingdom as a whole is deprecated in most style guides, including the BBC, most newspapers and in UK Government publications. Northern Ireland, being of less clear legal status, generally remains a province.

Derived terms

Terms derived from nation

• aspirant nation
• bedroom nation
• bug nation
• captive nation
• cybernation
• father of the nation
• First Nations
• Ford Nation
• Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
• home nation
• independent mini-nation
• indispensable nation
• internation
• macronation
• micronation
• mini-nation
• model nation
• most favored nation
• most favoured nation
• mother of the nation
• multination
• natiolect
• national
• nation-builder
• nation-building
• nationful
• nationhood
• nationism
• nationist
• nationless
• nationlike
• Nation of Islam
• nation of laws
• nationship
• nation-state
• nation state
• nationwide
• nation wrecker
• Navajo Nation
• Neutral Nation
• new nation project
• one nation
• one-nation conservatism
• one-nation conservative
• plurination
• project nation
• proposition nation
• pseudo-nation
• pseudonation
• Six Nations of the Grand River
• space nation
• State of the Nation
• student nation
• subnation
• supernation
• Test nation
• the race that stops a nation
• United Nations

 

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to nation

• antenatal
• innate
• nascent
• natal
• native
• nativism
• nativity
• nativization
• natural
• naturalism
• nature
• naturism
• prenatal

 

Translations

community of people

• Adyghe: цӏыфы лъэпкъ (cʼəfə lˢɛpq)
• Afrikaans: nasie (af), volk (af)
• Albanian: komb (sq) m
• Amharic: ብሔር (bəḥer)
• Arabic: أُمَّة (ar) f (ʔumma), قَوْم m (qawm)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܐܘܡܬܐ f (ʾumməṯā)

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אוּמְּתָא f (ʾumməṯā)

• Armenian: ազգ (hy) (azg), ժողովուրդ (hy) (žoġovurd)
• Azerbaijani: millət (az)
• Bashkir: милләт (millət)
• Belarusian: на́цыя (be) f (nácyja), наро́д (be) m (naród)
• Bengali: কওম (bn) (koōm), মিল্লত (bn) (millot), উম্মত (bn) (ummot)
• Breton: broad (br) m
• Bulgarian: на́ция (bg) f (nácija), наро́д (bg) m (naród)
• Burmese: လူမျိုးသည် (lu-myui:sany), လူမျိုး (my) (lu-myui:), ပြည်သူပြည်သား (my) (pranysu-pranysa:)
• Catalan: nació (ca) f
• Cebuano: nasod
• Chavacano: nacion
• Cherokee: ᎠᏰᎵᎯ (ayelihi), ᎠᏰᎵᎤᏙᏢᏒ (ayeliudotlvsv)
• Chichewa: fuko
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 人民 (yue) (jan⁴ man⁴), 國民／国民 (gwok³ man⁴)

  Dungan: жынмин (řɨnmin)

  Eastern Min: 人民 (ìng-mìng), 國民／国民 (guók-mìng)

  Gan: 人民 (liin⁴ min⁴)

  Hakka: 人民 (ngìn-mìn), 國民／国民 (koet-mìn)

  Hokkien: 人民 (zh-min-nan) (jîn-bîn), 國民／国民 (zh-min-nan) (kok-bîn)

  Jin: 人民 (zeng¹ ming¹), 國民／国民 (gueh⁶ ming¹)

  Mandarin: 人民 (zh) (rénmín), 國民／国民 (zh) (guómín)

  Northern Min: 人民 (nêng-měng)

  Wu: 人民 (⁶zen-min₆), 國民／国民 (⁷koq-min)

  Xiang: 人民 (ren² min²), 國民／国民 (gue⁶ min²)

• Chukchi: варат (varat)
• Czech: národ (cs) m
• Danish: nation c
• Dutch: natie (nl) f, volk (nl) n
• Esperanto: nacio
• Estonian: natsioon, rahvus
• Faroese: tjóð f
• Finnish: kansa (fi)
• French: nation (fr) f
• Galician: nación (gl) f
• Georgian: ერი (eri), ნაცია (ka) (nacia), ხალხი (xalxi)
• German: Volk (de) n, Nation (de) f (chiefly when sovereign also)
• Gothic: 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐌹 n (reiki)
• Greek: έθνος (el) n (éthnos)

  Ancient: ἔθνος n (éthnos)

• Haitian Creole: nasyon
• Hawaiian: lāhui
• Hebrew: אומה \ אֻמָּה (he) f (umá)
• Hiligaynon: pungsud, nasyon
• Hindi: समाज (hi) m (samāj), क़ौम f (qaum), मिल्लत (hi) m (millat)
• Hungarian: nemzet (hu)
• Icelandic: þjóð (is) f
• Ido: naciono (io)
• Ilocano: nasion, pagilian
• Indonesian: bangsa (id)
• Ingrian: rahvas, kansa
• Ingush: халкъ (xalqʼ)
• Interlingua: nation (ia)
• Irish: náisiún m
• Italian: nazione (it) f
• Japanese: 国民 (ja) (こくみん, kokumin)
• Javanese: bangsa (jv)
• Kazakh: ұлт (kk) (ūlt), ұлыс (ūlys)
• Khmer: រាស្ត្រ (riəh), ប្រជាជន (prɑciə cŭən), ពលរដ្ឋ (km) (pŭəllĕəʼrŏət), ប្រជាជាតិ (km) (prɑciə ciət), រដ្ឋ (km) (rŏət), ជាតិ (km) (ciət), ប្រជា (km) (prɑciə)
• Korean: 국민(國民) (ko) (gungmin)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نەتەوە (ckb) (netewe)

• Kyrgyz: улут (ky) (ulut), журт (ky) (jurt)
• Lao: ປະຊາຊົນ (pa sā son), ປະຊາຊາດ (pa sā sāt)
• Latgalian: tauta
• Latin: gēns (la) f
• Latvian: nācija f, tauta (lv) f
• Ligurian: naçión
• Lithuanian: nacija (lt) f, tauta (lt) f, tautybė f
• Livvi: kanzu
• Low German:

  German Low German: Volk (nds) n, Natschoon (nds) f

• Lutshootseed: swatixʷtəd
• Macedonian: нација f (nacija), народ (mk) m (narod)
• Malay: bangsa
• Malayalam: രാജ്യം (ml) (rājyaṁ)
• Manchu: ᡠᡵᠰᡝ (urse)
• Manx: ashoon m
• Maori: iwi
• Middle English: nacioun
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үндэстэн (mn) (ündesten)

  Mongolian: ᠦᠨᠳᠦᠰᠦᠲᠡᠨ (ündüsüten)

• Ngazidja Comorian: twaifa class 5/6
• Norman: nâtion f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nasjon (no) m

  Nynorsk: nasjon m

• Occitan: nacion (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: народъ m (narodŭ)

• Old East Slavic: народъ f (narodŭ)
• Old English: þēod f
• Ottoman Turkish: ایل (il)
• Pa'O: လိုꩻခွိုꩻ (blk), လိုꩻခွိုꩻ (blk), ခမ်းသားထီသား
• Pali: raṭṭha n
• Pashto: ملت m (millat), ولس m (wolᶕs)
• Persian: مِلَّت (fa) (mellat)
• Plautdietsch: Volkj (nds) n
• Polish: naród (pl) m, nacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: nação (pt) f
• Romanian: națiune (ro) f
• Russian: на́ция (ru) f (nácija), наро́д (ru) m (naród)
• Sanskrit: राष्ट्र (sa) m (rāṣṭra)
• Scots: thede
• Scottish Gaelic: nàisean m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́род m, на̑ција f

  Roman: národ (sh) m, nȃcija (sh) f

• Slovak: národ (sk) m
• Slovene: narod (sl) m
• Somali: qaran (so), ummad (so)
• Sotho: (South Africa) setjhaba (st), (Lesotho) sechaba (st)
• Southern Altai: эл (el), калык (kalïk), улус (ulus), јурт (ǰurt), аймак (aymak)
• Spanish: nación (es) f
• Swahili: taifa (sw)
• Swedish: nation (sv) c
• Tagalog: bansa (tl), lipunan (tl)
• Tajik: миллат (tg) (millat)
• Tamil: நாடு (ta) (nāṭu), நாடு (ta) (nāṭu)
• Tatar: милләт (tt) (millät)
• Telugu: జాతి (te) (jāti)
• Thai: ประชาชน (th) (bprà-chaa-chon), ประชาชาติ (bprà-chaa-châat)
• Tumbuka: fuko
• Turkish: millet (tr), ulus (tr)
• Turkmen: millet, ýurt
• Ukrainian: на́ція (uk) f (nácija), наро́д (uk) m (naród)
• Urdu: قَوم (ur) f (qaum)
• Uyghur: مىللەت (millet)
• Uzbek: millat (uz), ulus (uz)
• Vietnamese: dân tộc (vi)
• Welsh: cenedl (cy) f
• Yiddish: פֿאָלק n (folk)

sovereign state

• Afrikaans: nasie (af), staat (af)
• Albanian: shtet (sq) m
• Amharic: መንግሥት (mängəśt), ሃገር f (hagär)
• Arabic: دَوْلَة (ar) f (dawla), وَطَن (ar) m (waṭan)
• Armenian: պետություն (hy) (petutʻyun), երկիր (hy) (erkir)
• Azerbaijani: dövlət (az)
• Bashkir: ил (il), дәүләт (dəwlət), дәүләт (dəwlət)
• Belarusian: дзяржа́ва (be) f (dzjaržáva), на́цыя (be) f (nácyja)
• Bengali: রাষ্ট্র (bn) (raśṭro), জাতি (bn) (jati)
• Bikol Central: nasyon
• Bulgarian: държа́ва (bg) f (dǎržáva)
• Burmese: နိုင်ငံ (my) (nuingngam)
• Catalan: estat (ca) m
• Cebuano: nasod
• Chavacano: nacion
• Chichewa: dziko
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 國家／国家 (gwok³ gaa¹)

  Dungan: гуйҗя (guyži͡a)

  Eastern Min: 國家／国家 (guók-gă)

  Hakka: 國家／国家 (koet-kâ)

  Hokkien: 國家／国家 (zh-min-nan) (kok-ka)

  Mandarin: 國家／国家 (zh) (guójiā)

  Northern Min: 國家／国家 (gŏ-gá)

  Wu: 國家／国家

• Crimean Tatar: devlet
• Czech: stát (cs) m
• Danish: stat c
• Dutch: natie (nl) f, staat (nl) m
• Estonian: riik (et)
• Finnish: kansakunta (fi), valtio (fi), kansa (fi)
• French: état (fr) m, État (fr) m, Etat (fr) m
• Galician: estado (gl) m
• Georgian: სახელმწიფო (ka) (saxelmc̣ipo)
• German: Staat (de) m
• Greek: κράτος (el) n (krátos), καθεστώς (el) n (kathestós)
• Hebrew: מדינה \ מְדִינָה (he) f (mediná)
• Hiligaynon: pungsud, nasyon
• Hindi: राज्य (hi) m (rājya), राष्ट्र (hi) m (rāṣṭra), जाति (hi) f (jāti)
• Hungarian: ország (hu), állam (hu)
• Icelandic: ríki (is) n
• Ilocano: nasion
• Indonesian: negara (id)
• Irish: stát m
• Italian: stato (it) m, nazione (it) f
• Japanese: 国家 (ja) (こっか, kokka)
• Kazakh: мемлекет (kk) (memleket)
• Khmer: រដ្ឋ (km) (rŏət), ប្រទេស (km) (prɑteih)
• Korean: 국가(國家) (ko) (gukga)
• Kyrgyz: мамлекет (ky) (mamleket)
• Lao: ລັດ (lo) (lat), ຊາດ (lo) (sāt), ປະເທດ (pa thēt)
• Latin: natio (la) f
• Latvian: valsts (lv) f
• Lithuanian: valstybė (lt) f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Staat (nds) m, Stoot (nds) m

• Macedonian: држава f (država)
• Malay: bangsa, negara (ms)
• Manchu: ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ (gurun), ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ
  ᠪᠣᠣ (gurun boo)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: улс гурэн (uls guren), улс (mn) (uls)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stat (no) m

  Nynorsk: stat m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: землꙗ f (zemlja), страна f (strana)

• Old East Slavic: землꙗ f (zemlja), краина f (kraina)
• Old English: þēod f
• Ottoman Turkish: ایل (il)
• Pa'O: ခမ်းထီ (blk)
• Pashto: دولت (ps) m (dawlát)
• Persian:

  Dari: دَوْلَت (fa) (dawlat)

  Iranian Persian: دُوْلَت (fa) (dowlat)

• Plautdietsch: Launt (nds) n
• Polish: stan (pl) m, nacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: estado (pt) m
• Romanian: stat (ro) n
• Russian: госуда́рство (ru) n (gosudárstvo), держа́ва (ru) f (deržáva)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: др̀жава f

  Roman: dr̀žava (sh) f

• Sinhalese: රාජ්‍යය (rājyaya), ජාතිය (jātiya)
• Slovak: štát (sk) m
• Slovene: država (sl) f
• Spanish: estado (es) m
• Swedish: stat (sv) c
• Tagalog: bansa (tl), nasyon
• Tajik: давлат (tg) (davlat)
• Tatar: дәүләт (tt) (däwlät)
• Thai: รัฐ (th) (rát), ชาติ (th) (châat), ประเทศ (th) (bprà-têet)
• Tibetan: རྒྱལ་ཁབ (rgyal khab)
• Turkish: devlet (tr)
• Turkmen: döwlet
• Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎆𐎚 (ḥwt)
• Ukrainian: держа́ва (uk) f (deržáva), на́ція (uk) f (nácija)
• Urdu: رِیاسَت f (riyāsat)
• Uyghur: دۆلەت (dölet)
• Uzbek: davlat (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà nước (vi), quốc gia (vi)
• Yiddish: מדינה f (medine)

association of students

• Catalan: sindicat (ca) m
• Finnish: osakunta (fi)
• Galician: nación (gl) m
• German: Nation (de) f
• Italian: nation (it) f
• Russian: землячество (ru) n (zemljačestvo)
• Spanish: sindicato (es) m
• Swedish: nation (sv) c, studentnation c
• Uyghur: ئۇيۇشما (uyushma)

See also

• country
• culture
• ethnicity
• homeland
• people
• race
• society
• state

 

Etymology 2

Probably short for damnation.

Noun

nation

1. (rare) Damnation.

Adverb

nation

1. (rare, dialectal) Extremely, very.
   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 186:

     “Looky here, Bilgewater,” he says, “I’m nation sorry for you, but you ain’t the only person that’s had troubles like that.”

References

• “Notable and Quotable”, in Merriam Webster Online Newsletter‎^[3], 2005 November, archived from the original on 14 March 2006.

Anagrams

• Tonian, anoint

Danish

Etymology

From Latin nātiō (“birth, people”), derived from the verb nāscor (“to be born”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [naˈɕoˀn]

Noun

nation c (singular definite nationen, plural indefinite nationer)

1. a nation, a people with a common identity, united in history, culture or language
2. a nation, a country that is a politically independent unity

Declension

Declension of nation

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	nation	nationen	nationer	nationerne
genitive	nations	nationens	nationers	nationernes

References

• “nation” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French nation, from Old French nacion, borrowed from Latin nātiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

Noun

nation f (plural nations)

1. nation

Derived terms

• national
• Nations Unies
• Organisation des Nations Unies
• Six Nations
• Société des Nations

 

References

• “nation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tonnai

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French nacion.

Noun

nation f (plural nations)

1. nation

Descendants

• French: nation

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /natˈɧuːn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

nation c

1. a nation, a country, a state
2. a nation, a people

   tala till nationen

   address the nation

3. a union or fraternity of students from the same province

Declension

Declension of nation

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	nation	nations
	definite	nationen	nationens
plural	indefinite	nationer	nationers
	definite	nationerna	nationernas

Related terms

• Förenta nationerna
• national-
• nationaldag
• nationalism
• nationalist
• nationalitet
• nationell
• Nationernas förbund
• nationshus
• nationsliv
• studentnation

References

• nation in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• nation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• nation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)