Minding 'Never mind' and 'Nevermind'

Never mind the photo choicehere's the usage advice.

'Never Mind' as a Conjunction and an Imperative

There must be something very comprehensive in this phrase of "Never mind," for we do not recollect to have ever witnessed a quarrel in the streetat a theatrepublic roomor elsewherein which it has not been the standard reply to all belligerent inquiries. "Do you call yourself a gentlemanSir?"—"Never mindSir."
— Charles DickensThe Pickwick Papers1837

Never mind has a conjunction function in English. It's a term that joins together sentencesclausesother phrasesor words—and has nuances of meaning ranging from "much less" and "let alone." It is used in negative contextsand it precedes an optionideasituationetc.followed by another that is less likely. Take for example"With my injured knee I can hardly walknever mind run" or "I can barely understand itnever mind explain it." The phrase is also used imperatively to tell a person to disregard or dismiss something said.

Never mind—I'll do it myself.

"What is that supposed to mean?" "Never mind."

I wouldn't mind having another piece of piebut never mind—I already had two.

Do you know where my keys are? Ohnever mind. Here they are.

'Nevermind' as a Noun

Never mind is most often spelled as two words—unless it is used as a noun. The closed (or hyphenated) noun formnevermindis dialectal and has the meaning of "interest," "concern," or "attention." Itlike its conjunction cousinis used in contexts implying indifferencedisregardor dismissal.

That's no nevermind of yours.

Don't pay him no nevermind; he's just teasing.

Wellit don't make no never-mind."
— Peter BenchleyJaws1974

The adverb never originates from Old English nǣfre (from nemeaning "not," plus ǣfre"ever")and true to form it means "not ever" or "at no time," as in "I have never met her" or "Never in my whole life have I been so happy." The base word mind is a verb that is often used in idiomaticusually negativeimperative constructions suggesting that someone should show (or not show) concern about somethingworry (or not worry) about somethingor pay (or not pay) attention to something.

Mind your manners.

Please mind your business/beeswax.

Don't mind him; he's grumpy.

I don't mind going.

I never minded her reminiscences of her younger years.

Never (you) mind that; we must be going.

(You) never mind (it)—there are more important things to deal with.

The noun mind is used with similar meaning often in the colloquial expression "Pay him/her no mind." Mind meaning "attention" goes back tolike nevermind doesthe 20th century.

As a conjunction and an imperativenever mind is commonly spelled as an open compound; howeverthere is increasing evidence of it closed.

Nevermind that Harry Potter is responsible for a resurgence in children reading or that the books are about good winning over evil. I'm still trying to find the demonic activity in the six books we own because I really don't recall any.
— Walter BiscardiJr.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution17 Apr. 2006

Abbreviations of 'Never Mind'

Closing the spelling of compounds is a common linguistic phenomenonand so is dropping vowels and inconsequential consonants in abbreviations when texting. In social medianever mind is abbreviated NVM (also NM) or lowercase nvm (nm) and is usually used to tersely say "Disregard my last comment."

On second thoughtnvm. #AHS1984 https://t.co/50VSa1wpZ4

— AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) October 32019

Never and mind are old wordsbut together they form a stronglong-standing conjunctionimperativeand verbal phrase butmore importantlytogether they have adapted to social media truncation.