Google
 

AllWords.com Home

English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search

 
 
Complete Definition of "nerd"

wikipedia
English

Alternative spellings
nurd very rare

Etymology
Unknown.
First used in w:Dr. Seuss|Dr. Seuss’s book If I Ran the Zoo, 1950 as the name of an imaginary animal.
:And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Katroo
:And bring back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo,
:A Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker too!
Possibly from Mortimer Snerd, the name of w:Edgar Bergen|Edgar Bergen’s ventriloquist dummy.
Possibly from the acronym N.E.R.D. on the pocket protectors of employees of the company Northern Electric Research and Developments; it should be noted, however, that speculative etymologies based on acronyms are almost always false (such as “port out, starboard home” for “posh” and “to insure promptness” for “tip”) and are known as w:backronym|backronyms.
Possibly a pronunciation of the word “drunk” spelled in reverse (“knurd”), used to mean a person who does not drink at parties; however, this seems somewhat contrived.

Pronunciation
italbrac|RP enPR|nûd, IPA|/nɜːd/, SAMPA|/n3:d/
italbrac|US enPR|nûrd, IPA|/nɝːd/, SAMPA|/n3:rd/
rhymes|ɜː(r)d

Noun
en-noun

  1. context|slang|derogatory A person who, although having good technical or scientific skills, is introspective and introverted

Synonyms
italbrac|socially unaccepted person|all are slang and derogatory dag italbrac|Australian, dork, dweeb, geek, loser, twerp

Derived terms
nerdiness
nerdish
nerdy

Translations
trans-top|A person, often very studious, with poor social skills
Chinese:
:Mandarin: 宅男 (zháinán) male nerd; 宅女 (zháinǚ) female nerd
Danish: nørd
Dutch: t-|nl|nerd|m
Estonian: nohik
Finnish: nörtti
Icelandic: nörd
Italian: secchione m
Japanese: オタク, おたく (otaku)
trans-mid
Norwegian: t-|no|nerd|m
Portuguese: nerdi italbrac|Brazil, t+|pt|nerd italbrac|Brazil, CDF italbrac|Brazil
Russian: ботан (botan)
Spanish: norio, matón, empollón, friki
Swedish: nörd c
Thai: THchar|เนิร์ด (nerd) or THchar|หนอนหนังสือ (non-nung-sue)
trans-bottom

Category:Unknown etymology


Dutch

Etymology
From E.|nl.

Pronunciation
IPA|/nɜːrt/

Noun
nl-noun2|m|s|je

  1. a #English|nerd

Norwegian

Noun
no-noun-m1|nerd

  1. a #English|nerd

de:nerd
es:nerd
fr:nerd
pl:nerd
pt:nerd
ru:nerd
fi:nerd

Revision and Credits for"nerd"
  • 2007-12-07 18:56 - Sewnmouthsecret - Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/91.49.92.232|91.49.92.232]] ([[User_talk:91.49.92.232|Talk]]); changed back to last version by [[User:Jonathan Webley|Jonathan Webley]]

  • Full Revision History
Dictionary content provided from Wiktionary.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License
 
 

 Find:
  Words Starting With:
  Words Ending With:
  Words Containing:
  Words That Match:

 
 Translate Into:
  
Dutch   French   German
  
Italian   Spanish
    Show results per page.


Browse the Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 
  

   
Allwords Copyright 1998-2012 Allsites LLC. All rights reserved.