nickname

nickname

See also: Nickname

English

Etymology

From Middle English nekename, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“also, additional”) + name (“name”).[1] Compare Old Norse aukanafn, auknafn, auknefni (“nickname”), Faroese eyknevni (“nickname”), Danish øgenavn (“nickname”), Swedish öknamn (“nickname”), and German Low German Ökelname (“nickname”).

For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, orange, umpire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪkneɪm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

nickname (plural nicknames)

1. A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.

   "The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City.

2. A familiar, shortened or diminutive name for a person or thing.

   My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny.

Usage notes

Nicknames are often given in quotation marks between the first and last names. For example: Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.

Synonyms

• (familiar invented given name): handle, hypocoristic, moniker, nick, sobriquet, pet name

Descendants

• → German: Nickname
• → Japanese: ニックネーム (nikkunēmu)

Translations

familiar, invented given name

Afrikaans: (please verify) bynaam Albanian: nofkë (sq) f Arabic: لَقَب‎ (ar) m (laqab), كُنْيَة‎ f (kunya), اِسْم اَلدَّلَع‎ m (ism ad-dalaʿ) Armenian: մականուն (hy) (makanun) Azerbaijani: ləqəb Bashkir: ҡушамат (quşamat) Belarusian: мяну́шка f (mjanúška), клі́чка f (klíčka), на́звішча n (názvišča), на́зьвішча n (názʹvišča) (Taraškievica) Bengali: ডাকনাম (ḍakônam) Bikol Central: bansag (bcl) Breton: moranv (br) m Bulgarian: пря́кор (bg) m (prjákor), про́звище (bg) n (prózvište) Catalan: sobrenom (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 花名 (faa1 meng2) Mandarin: 綽號／绰号 (zh) (chuòhào), 外號／外号 (zh) (wàihào) Czech: přezdívka (cs) f Danish: øgenavn n, kælenavn n Dutch: bijnaam (nl) m Esperanto: kromnomo sg Estonian: hüüdnimi Finnish: lempinimi (fi) French: surnom (fr) m Galician: alcume (gl) m, alcuño m Georgian: მეტსახელი (meṭsaxeli), ზედმეტსახელი (zedmeṭsaxeli), შერქმეული სახელი (šerkmeuli saxeli) German: Spitzname (de) m Greek: παρατσούκλι (el) n (paratsoúkli) Ancient: ἐπωνυμία f (epōnumía) Hebrew: כִּינּוּי חִיבָּה‎ m (kinuy khiba), שֵׁם לווַאי‎ m (shem levái) Hindi: उपनाम (hi) m (upnām), लक़ब (laqab) Hungarian: becenév (hu) Icelandic: gælunafn (is) n Ido: surnomacho (io) Indonesian: panggilan (id) Irish: leasainm m, forainm (ga) m Italian: soprannome (it) m Japanese: 愛称 (ja) (aishō), ニックネーム (nikkunēmu), 渾名 (ja) (あだな, adana), 綽名 (あだな, adana), 綽号 (しゃくごう, shakugō) Kazakh: лақап (laqap), ат (kk) (at), лақап ат (laqap at) Khmer: សម្មតិនាម (sɑmmat niəm) Korean: 애칭 (ko) (aeching), 별명 (ko) (byeolmyeong) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: leqeb (ku) Kyrgyz: ылакап ат (ılakap at), ат (ky) (at) Lao: ຊື່ນ້ອຍ (sư̄n ʼa nya) Latin: agnomen n, agnomentum n Latvian: iesauka f, palama f Lithuanian: pravardė f Low German: German Low German: Ökelnaam m, Ökelnoom m Luxembourgish: Spëtznumm m Macedonian: прекар m (prekar) Maltese: laqam m Maori: ingoa kārangaranga Mongolian: хоч (mn) (xoč) Norwegian: Bokmål: kallenavn (no) n, økenavn n, kjælenavn n Nynorsk: kallenamn n, aukenamn n, kjælenamn n Pashto: لقب‎ m (laqáb) Persian: لقب‎ (fa) (laqab), کنیه‎ (fa) (konye), پاژنام‎ (pâžnâm) Plautdietsch: Ieekjenomen m Polish: przezwisko (pl) n, ksywa (pl) f, ksywka f, przydomek (pl) m, nick (pl) m Portuguese: (Brazil) apelido (pt) m, (Portugal) alcunha (pt) m Romanian: poreclă (ro) f Russian: кли́чка (ru) f (klíčka), про́звище (ru) n (prózvišče), псевдони́м (ru) m (psevdoním) (pseudonym), прозва́ние (ru) n (prozvánije) Scottish Gaelic: ath-ainm m, far-ainm m, frith-ainm m, leas-ainm m, leth-ainm m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: на́димак m Roman: nádimak (sh) m Sicilian: (Both individual or family nickname) nciuria f, suprannomu (scn) m Slovak: prezývka f Slovene: vzdevek (sl) m, nadimek m Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: gódło n Spanish: apodo (es) m, mote (es) m, sobrenombre (es) m, (Bolivia, Peru) chapa (es) f Swahili: msimbo (sw) class 3/4 Swedish: smeknamn (sv) n, öknamn (sv) n (a deregatory nickname) Tagalog: palayaw Tajik: лақаб (laqab), куния (kuniya), тахаллус (taxallus) Tatar: кушамат (tt) (quşamat) Thai: ชื่อเล่น (th) (chʉ̂ʉ-lên) Tibetan: མིང་འདོགས (ming 'dogs) (pejorative), གཅེས་མིང (gces ming) (endearing) Turkish: takma ad (tr), lakap (tr) Ukrainian: прі́звисько n (prízvysʹko), кли́чка f (klýčka) (colloquial) Urdu: اپنام‎ m (upnām), لقب‎ (laqab) Uyghur: لەقەم‎ (leqem) Uzbek: laqab (uz) Walloon: såvaedje no (wa) m, spot (wa) m, sobriket (wa) m, sobricot (wa) m Welsh: llysenw m, glasenw m

byname

Bashkir: ҡушамат (quşamat) Bulgarian: умалително име n (umalitelno ime) Danish: tilnavn n, øgenavn n Finnish: liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi) German: Beiname (de) m Icelandic: uppnefni n, viðurnefni (is) n, auknefni n Middle English: surname, surnoun Norwegian: Bokmål: tilnavn n Nynorsk: tilnamn n Polish: przezwisko (pl) n Sicilian: nciuria f, suprannomu (scn) m Swahili: msimbo (sw) class 3/4 Swedish: tillnamn (sv) n, binamn (sv) n Turkish: lakap (tr), san (tr), sıfat (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: (please verify) petnomo, (please verify) kromnomo

Verb

nickname (third-person singular simple present nicknames, present participle nicknaming, simple past and past participle nicknamed)

1. (transitive) To give a nickname to (a person or thing).

   Gerald, nicknamed "Jerry", was usually a very cheerful person.

Translations

to give a nickname to

Bikol Central: magbansag, bansagan Bulgarian: давам прякор (davam prjakor) Czech: přezdívat (cs) Dutch: bijnamen (nl) Finnish: antaa lempinimi, liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi), nimetä (fi) French: surnommer (fr) Georgian: სახელს არქმევს (saxels arkmevs), სახელს შეარქმევს (saxels šearkmevs) Greek: Ancient: ἐπικαλέω (epikaléō) Icelandic: uppnefna Ido: surnomizar Italian: soprannominare Japanese: 渾名する (ja) (あだなする, adana suru) Portuguese: alcunhar (pt), apelidar (pt) Romanian: porecli (ro) Russian: прозыва́ть (ru) impf (prozyvátʹ), прозва́ть (ru) pf (prozvátʹ), крести́ть (ru) impf (krestítʹ), окрести́ть (ru) pf (okrestítʹ) Spanish: apodar (es), motejar (es) Ukrainian: прозива́ти (prozyváty) (impf.), прозва́ти (prozváty) (pf.) Walloon: spoter (wa), sorlomer (wa), ribatijhî (wa), batijhî (wa)

References

1. Arika Okrent (2019-07-05), “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss‎, Pocket, retrieved 2021-10-08