noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'
Formal or technical term for the state of something not existing or being absent. Often used in philosophical, legal, or academic contexts.
The absence of evidence proved the defendant's innocence.
This argument presupposes the non-existence of God.
Compound of 不 (fu, 'not') and 存在 (sonzai, 'existence'). The word is a direct borrowing from Chinese 不存在 (bù cúnzài), used in formal and academic Japanese.