nadir

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪˌdɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈnæd.ɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈneɪ.də(ɹ)/, /neɪˈdɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪˌdɪɚ/, /ˈneɪ.dɚ/, /neɪˈdɪɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪdə(ɹ), -ɪə(ɹ)

nadir (plural nadirs)

1. The point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon; point of the celestial sphere directly under the place of observation.

   Synonym: antizenith

   Antonym: zenith

   • 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:

     […] when we are Nadyr to the Sunne, we have no ſhadow […]

2. (figuratively) The lowest point; time of greatest depression.

   Synonyms: lowest ebb, slough of despond, trough, bathos

   Antonyms: height, peak

   Near-synonym: dead

   • 1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries:

     […] the seventh century is the nadir of the human mind in Europe […]

   • 1950, Elizabeth Janeway, edited by Helen Hull, The Writer’s Book:

     In this nadir of poetic repute, when the only verse that most people read from one year’s end to the next is what appears on greetings cards, it is well for us to stop and consider our poets.

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 175:

     The myth describes the dangerous moment of the nadir, the dead of winter, the moment when it is not known whether the world will be re-created and another cycle will bring on another spring.

3. (astronomy) The axis of a projected conical shadow; the direction of the force of gravity at a location; down.

   Synonym: down

   The nadir of the sun is the axis of the shadow projected by the Earth.

4. (beekeeping, archaic) An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.

   Antonyms: duplet, super

• azimuth, zenith - (both from السَّمْتُ (as-samtu)).

nadir (third-person singular simple present nadirs, present participle nadiring, simple past and past participle nadired)

1. (transitive, beekeeping) To extend (a beehive) by adding an empty box at the base.

• Henry Taylor (1860) The Beekeepers Manual, page 24

• Nadir (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Darin, Drain, Drina, Indra, Nardi, Ndari, Radin, dinar, drain, ranid

Borrowed from Arabic نَادِر (nādir).

• IPA^(key): [nɑːˈdiɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: na‧dir

nadir (comparative daha nadir, superlative ən nadir)

1. rare

   nadir tapıntı ― a rare discovery

   nadir hallarda ― in rare cases, rarely

As for the English word.

• IPA^(key): /na.diʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

nadir m (plural nadirs)

1. (astronomy) nadir

   Antonym: zénith

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

• radin

nadir m (plural nadires)

1. nadir (point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where the observer stands)

• “nadir”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈnadir/ [ˈna.dɪr]
• Rhymes: -adir
• Syllabification: na‧dir

Inherited from Malay nadir, from Persian نادر (nâder, “rare”), from Arabic نَادِر (nādir).

• nadirat

nadir (comparative lebih nadir, superlative paling nadir)

1. (archaic) rare

   Synonym: jarang

2. (archaic) extraordinary

   Synonym: luar biasa

Borrowed from Dutch nadir, from French nadir, from Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).

nadir (plural nadir-nadir)

1. nadir, the point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon; point of the celestial sphere directly under the place of observation
2. (astronomy) nadir, down; the axis of a projected conical shadow; the direction of the force of gravity at a location

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nadir (plural nadir-nadir)

1. (chiefly dialectal) a Malacca type of large sea-going fishing boat

From Classical Persian نَظِیر (nazīr), from Arabic نَظِير (naẓīr). Doublet of nazir.

• nazir

nadir (plural nadir-nadir)

1. (archaic) inspector, supervisor

   Synonyms: inspektur, pengawas

• “nadir” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).

• IPA^(key): /naˈdir/
• Rhymes: -ir
• Hyphenation: na‧dìr

nadir m

1. (astronomy) nadir

   Antonym: zenit

• Randi, nardi

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير (naẓīr).

• IPA^(key): /ˈna.dir/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -adir
• Syllabification: na‧dir

nadir m inan

1. (astronomy) nadir (axis of projected conical shadow)

   Synonym: perygeum

   Antonym: zenit

• nadir in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• nadir in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• Hyphenation: na‧dir

nadir m (plural nadires)

1. nadir (point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where the observer stands)
2. (figuratively) nadir (the lowest point)

Borrowed from French nadir.

• IPA^(key): /naˈdir/

nadir n (uncountable)

1. nadir

• “nadir”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

• IPA^(key): /naˈdiɾ/ [naˈð̞iɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: na‧dir

nadir m (plural nadires)

1. nadir (point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where the observer stands)

• “nadir”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from Spanish nadir, from Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt).

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /naˈdiɾ/ [n̪ɐˈd̪ɪɾ]
• Rhymes: -iɾ
• Syllabification: na‧dir

nadír (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜇᜒᜇ᜔)

1. nadir (point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith)

• Cuadrado Muñiz, Adolfo (1972) Hispanismos en el tagalo: diccionario de vocablos de origen español vigentes en esta lengua filipina, Madrid: Oficina de Educación Iberoamericana, page 413

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish نادر (nadir), from Arabic نَادِر (nādir).

• IPA^(key): [naːˈdiɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: na‧dir

nadir

1. rare

   Synonym: ender

   Antonym: yaygın