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): /ˈneɪ.dɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈnæ.dɪə(ɹ)/, /ˈneɪ.də(ɹ)/, /neɪˈdɪə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈneɪ.dɪɹ/, /ˈneɪ.dəɹ/, /neɪˈdɪɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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 where we stand.

   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

   • 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, in Helen Hull (editor), 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.

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.

• 1860, Henry Taylor, The Beekeepers Manual, page 24.

• Nadir (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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

As for the English word.

• IPA^(key): /na.diʁ/

nadir m (plural nadirs)

1. (astronomy) nadir

• zénith

• “nadir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• radin

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

• nadìr, IPA^(key): /naˈdir/

nadir m

1. (astronomy) nadir

• zenit

• nardi

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)

From Arabic نادر‎

nadir (comparative daha nadir, superlative en nadir)

1. rare

• ender