none of his business
1
5.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
no es asunto suyo
- When she asked about my salary, I reminded her that it's none of her business.
Examples
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That's none of his business.
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This is none of your business.
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My relationship with my husband is none of your business.
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It's none of your business.
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My intentions are none of your business.
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It is none of your business.
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That's none of your business.
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"He'd try to talk me out of it, and it's none of his business."
Fiction book (1990) -
And it was none of his business; that's what Andy's mother had said to his father.
Fiction book (2002) -
He wouldn't understand it, and it's none of his business or anyone else's.
Fiction book (1990)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'it does not concern him' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'none' (no part), the possessive 'his', and 'business' in the sense of a matter or concern. This is a common, cross-linguistic possessive + noun construction, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
None of his business comes from the idea of business meaning a person's own affairs or work. Imagine a shop with a sign 'his business'—anything outside that shop is none of his business, so the phrase means 'it does not concern him' and he should not get involved.