nerd

nerd

See also: Nerd and NERD

English

Alternative forms

• knurd (folk etymology, very rare)
• nurd (very rare)

Etymology

Unknown. Attested since 1951 as US student slang.

• Perhaps an alteration of nerts (“nuts", "crazy”); see references below.
• The word, capitalized, appeared in 1950 in Dr. Seuss’s If I Ran the Zoo 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!

• Various unlikely folk etymologies and less likely backronymic speculations also exist.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nûd, IPA^(key): /nɜːd/
• (US) enPR: nûrd, IPA^(key): /nɝːd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d

Noun

nerd (plural nerds)

1. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A person who is intellectual but generally introverted.
   • 1953 Advertisement for "Businessman's Lunch", a play by Micheal Quinn, in Patricia Brown, Gloria Mundi

     They particularly enjoy making fun of one of their fellows who is not present, whom they consider a hopeless nerd – until, that is, they learn he is engaged to marry the boss's daughter.

   • 2002, Sam Williams, Free as in Freedom:

     "We were all geeks and nerds, but he was unusually poorly adjusted," recalls Chess, now a mathematics professor at Hunter College.

   • 2009 February 28, “Orszag to present budget blueprint”, in WBBH:

     "Yes, I am super nerd, and the whole room cracked up," Said Orszag.

2. (informal, sometimes derogatory) One who has an intense, obsessive interest in something.

   Synonym: geek

   Hyponym: otaku

   a computer nerd

   a comic-book nerd

   Synonyms: dag(Australian), geek, propeller head

3. A member of a subculture revolving around video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media. [from 1980s]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:dork

Derived terms

• arachnerd
• cybernerd
• entreprenerd
• millionerd
• nerdboy
• nerdbrain
• nerdcore
• nerdette
• nerdfest
• nerdgasm
• Nerdic
• nerdification
• nerdify
• nerdiness
• nerdish
• nerdism
• nerdistan
• nerdlet
• nerdlike
• nerdling
• nerdlinger
• nerdo
• nerdom, nerddom
• nerd out
• nerdsome
• nerdspeak
• nerdtastic
• nerdvana
• nerdy
• technonerd

 

Translations

intellectual, skillful person, generally introverted

Arabic: نِيرْد‎ m (nīrd), غِيك‎ m (ḡīk), مُهَوَّس‎ m (muhawwas), اِنْطِوَائِيّ‎ m (inṭiwāʾiyy) Moroccan Arabic: قرّاي‎ (qrrāi) Armenian: ներդ (hy) (nerd), կրծող (hy) (krcoł), բոտանիկ (botanik) Chinese: Cantonese: please add this translation if you can Mandarin: 书呆子 (zh) Czech: zažraný mimoň m, nerd (cs) m Danish: nørd (da) Dutch: nerd (nl) m Esperanto: nerdo Estonian: nohik, tuupur Faroese: nørdur m Finnish: nörtti (fi) French: nerd (fr) m Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Sonderling (de) m, Nerd (de) m, Fachidiot (de) m, Tüftler (de) m, Bücherwurm (de) m, Computerfreak (de) m Greek: σπασίκλας (el) m (spasíklas), φυτό (el) (fytó) Hebrew: לַפְלַף‎ (he), חְנון‎ (he) Hungarian: please add this translation if you can Icelandic: nörd (is) Irish: saoithín m Italian: secchione (it) m Japanese: オタク (ja) (otaku), おたく (ja) (otaku), ナード (nādo), がり勉 (がりべん, gariben) (slang) Korean: 오타쿠 (ko) (otaku) Lithuanian: moksliukas m, moksliukė f Malay: nerda Norwegian: Bokmål: nerd m Nynorsk: nerd m Polish: nerd (pl) m Portuguese: nerd (pt) (Brazil), CDF (pt) (Brazil), totó (pt) m or f (Portugal, colloquial) Romanian: tocilar (ro) m, tocilară (ro) f Russian: зану́да (ru) m or f (zanúda), бoтáн m (botán), нерд (ru) m (nerd) (slang), бота́ник (ru) m (botánik) Serbo-Croatian: штребер m Spanish: ñoño (es) m, cerebrito m, mateo (es) m (Chile), norio m (Ecuador), matado (es) m (Peru), empollón m (Spain), friki (es) m or f (Spain) Swedish: nörd (sv) c Thai: เนิร์ด (th) (nerd), หนอนหนังสือ (nɔ̌ɔn-nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ) Turkish: nerd, inek (tr) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “nerd”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• nerd on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Nerds on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• dern, rend

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English nerd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nøːrt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nerd

Noun

nerd m (plural nerds, diminutive nerdje n)

1. nerd

Derived terms

• computernerd
• gamenerd
• internetnerd
• nerden
• nerderig
• nerdo

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English nerd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nærd/, /nøːɖ/
• Rhymes: -ærd, -øːɖ

Noun

nerd m (definite singular nerden, indefinite plural nerder, definite plural nerdene)

1. a nerd

References

• “nerd” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English nerd.

Noun

nerd m (definite singular nerden, indefinite plural nerdar, definite plural nerdane)

1. a nerd

References

• “nerd” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English nerd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛrt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrt
• Syllabification: nerd

Noun

nerd m pers

1. (derogatory) nerd (intellectual, skillful person, generally introverted)

Declension

Declension of nerd

	singular	plural
nominative	nerd	nerdzi/nerdy
genitive	nerda	nerdów
dative	nerdowi	nerdom
accusative	nerda	nerdów
instrumental	nerdem	nerdami
locative	nerdzie	nerdach
vocative	nerdzie	nerdzi/nerdy

Further reading

• nerd in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• nerd in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʁd͡ʒ/, /ˈnɛʁ.d͡ʒi/

Noun

nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

1. nerd (intellectual, introverted and quirky person)

   Synonyms: CDF, totó

Adjective

nerd (invariable)

1. nerdy (who is a nerd)

Usage notes

Until recently, this word was somewhat pejorative. Nowadays it is used both negatively and positively.

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈneɾd/ [ˈneɾð̞]
• Rhymes: -eɾd
• Syllabification: nerd

Noun

nerd m or f (plural nerds)

1. nerd