nequam

According to De Vaan, from nē- (“not”) +‎ quam (“what, whom”, f. acc. sing. quī). It may derive more directly from the adverb quam (“how”), from the same source. Traditionally derived from, and perhaps historically influenced by nē- (“not”) +‎ aequam (“equal”, f. acc. sing. aequus).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈneː.kʷam/, [ˈneːkʷä̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.kwam/, [ˈnɛːkwäm]

nēquam (indeclinable, comparative nēquior, superlative nēquissimus)

1. worthless, good-for-nothing
2. wretched, vile

• nēquitia/nēquitiēs

• Gallo-Italic:
  • Old Ligurian: necho
  • Old Lombard: nech
    • Lombard: gnec
  • Piedmontese: nech, gnech
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: naco, nèco
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: nec
  • Old Occitan: nèc
    • Occitan: nec

• “nequam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nequam”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nequam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a good, useful slave: frugi (opp. nequam) servus