nee

«nee» in Mova's school dictionary: used before a woman's family name from birth, to show… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective / preposition-like word (née; also written «nee»; borrowed from French)

meaning for a pupil

1) Née (often written nee) is used before a woman's family name from birth, to show what her surname was before she married: «Mrs Jane Smith, née Brown». tree →

2) It comes from French, where «née» means «born». tree →

sense in the lessons

It is a formal, written word found in family trees, history books, old newspapers and death notices; children meet it in family history projects. It tells the reader the woman's maiden name (surname before marriage). A related form «né» is sometimes used for a man's earlier name.

examples

• Mary Wilson, née Taylor, was my great-grandmother. tree →
• The notice read «Ann Kelly (nee O'Brien)». tree →
• In our family tree, Nan is listed as Mrs Jones, née Evans. tree →
• Née shows the surname someone had when she was born. tree →
• The queen's mother was born with another surname, so books write «née» before it. tree →

note

Formal and written; rare in speech. Pronounced «nay». Not an English word in origin: it is French for «born». Do not confuse with «nay» (an old word for «no») or «neigh» (a horse's sound), which sound the same.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nee» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.