What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Ben vs Nonce - What's the difference?

ben | nonce |

As nouns the difference between ben and nonce

is that ben is a prayer; a petition while nonce is the one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose (now only in for the nonce).

As adjectives the difference between ben and nonce

is that ben is inner, interior while nonce is denoting something occurring once.

As a preposition ben

is in, into.

As a proper noun Ben

is a diminutive of the male given name Benjamin or, less often, of Benedict.

ben

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ben, bene, from (etyl) .

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) A prayer; a petition.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ben, bene, variation of bin, .

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • (Scotland, northern England) In, into.
  • * 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 32:
    • And he was waving to me to creep in, so I just did and then just to skip ben the front and then in the lobby.

    Adjective

  • Inner, interior.
    • Derived terms
    * ben-end, ben-room

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Scotland, Northern England) Ben-room: The inner room of a two-room hut or shack (as opposed to the but).
    • Derived terms
    * but and ben

    Etymology 3

    Probably representing a North African pronunciation of (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tree, Moringa oleifera or horseradish tree of Arabia and India, which produces oil of ben.
  • The winged seed of the ben tree.
  • The oil of the ben seed.
    • Synonyms
    * (tree) (l), (l), (l)
    Derived terms
    * ben-nut

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * Ben

    Noun

    (-)
  • (usually, capitalised) Son of (used with Hebrew and Arabic surnames).

    • Etymology 5

    From (etyl) beinn

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A Scottish or Irish mountain or high peak.

    • Anagrams

    * English three-letter words ----

    nonce

    English

    (wikipedia nonce)

    Etymology 1

    From a misdivision in (etyl) of .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose (now only in for the nonce ).
    • That will do for the nonce , but we'll need a better answer for the long term.
  • * 1857 , , chapter 6:
    • 'Idiot!' exclaimed the doctor, who for the nonce was not capable of more than such spasmodic attempts at utterance.
  • (lexicography) A nonce word.
    • I had thought that the term was a nonce , but it seems as if it's been picked up by other authors.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • denoting something occurring once.

    • Derived terms

    * for the nonce * nonce word * nonce borrowing

    Etymology 2

    , from Nancy boy. See for further discussion.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British, slang, pejorative) A sex offender, especially of children; a paedophile.
    • That bloke who lives at number 53 is a nonce!
  • (British, slang) A stupid or worthless person.
    • Shut it, ya nonce!

    Etymology 3

    Contraction of number used once .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (cryptography) A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent replay attacks.
    • In this protocol we use the serial number of the message as a nonce .
  • * 1999 , Network Working Group, RFC 2617 – HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication , The Internet Society, page 22,
    • The information gained by the eavesdropper would permit a replay attack, but only with a request for the same document, and even that may be limited by the server's choice of nonce .
    English nouns which have interacted with their indefinite article ----