indeclinable affirm
■ indef part. “then, now.”

1. most freq. combined with interr pron. and followed by kho, as kin nu kho Ja.ii.159 kacci Ja.i.279; kaccin nu (for kaccid nu) Ja.ii.133 kathan nu (kho) Vin.i.83; kattha Pv-a.22; etc.
2. as interr. part. (= Lat. ne, num) in enclitic position Vin.i.17; Ja.iii.52; Snp.866, Snp.871, Snp.1071; etc. As such also combined with na = nanu (Lat. nonne), which begins the sentence: Vin.ii.303. (nanu tvaṃ vuḍḍho vīsativasso ’sī ti?) Pv.i.8#4; Pv-a.39, Pv-a.136 etc
   ■ Often combined with other emphatic or dubitative particles, like [api nu](/define/api nu) Vin.ii.303; DN.i.97; nu idha, contr. to nīdha Vv.83#6 or with sandhi as nu-v-idha DN.i.108 (variant reading nu khv idha). Cp. na¹ nūna, no.

Ved. nu, Idg. *nu, orig. adv. of time = now; cp. Lat. num (to nunc, now), see nūna