Negation
/nɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/noun
The act of denying, rejecting, or making something untrue or nonexistent.
Did you know?Negation ultimately comes from Latin negāre, meaning “to say no,” from the same Indo-European root that gave English the simple word “no,” so denial itself is literally encoded in one of language’s oldest refusal sounds.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ne
“a negative particle meaning “not” or “no””
Latin
Latin
negāre
“to say no, deny”
Latin
Latin
negātiō
“a denial, a refusal”
Old French
Old French
negacion
“denial, contradiction”
Middle English
English
negacioun
“denial or contradiction”
Modern English
English
negation
“the act of denying or making something untrue”