nomad

nomad

See also: NoMad, nomád, and nómad

English

Etymology

From Middle French nomade, from Latin nomas (“wandering shepherd”), from Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás, “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), from Ancient Greek νομός (nomós, “pasture”). Compare Numidia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊmæd/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊmæd/

Noun

nomad (plural nomads)

1. (anthropology) A member of a society or class who herd animals from pasture to pasture with no fixed home.
   • 1587, Philip Sidney & al. translating Philippe de Mornay as A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, viii, p. 113:

     The life of the people called the Nomads or Grazyers...

   • 2013 August, Henry Petroski, "Geothermal Energy" in American Scientist, Vol. 101, No. 4:

     Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2. (figuratively) Synonym of wanderer: an itinerant person.
3. (figuratively) A person who changes residence frequently.
   • 2010, J. Knight, Unloved, →ISBN, page 58:

     Once again Judy was a nomad, moving to yet again another destination.

   • 2014, Dan Lovett, Anybody Seen Dan Lovett?: Memoirs of a media nomad, →ISBN, page 10:

     I made my exit down I-75, heading south. After a 40-year odyssey as a media nomad, I will be closing the circle in a place where my life had never been better.

   • 2016, Daniel Coffeen, Reading the Way of Things: Towards a New Technology of Making Sense, →ISBN:

     Poise is the posture of the nomad, moving while always at home.

4. (figuratively, sports) A player who changes teams frequently.
   • 2008, John Devaney, Full Points Footy's WA Football Companion, →ISBN, page 282:

     With the recruitment of South Australian football nomad, and eventual legend of the game, Phil Matson, Subiaco would improve considerably in 1912.

   • 2014, Wayne Stewart, Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial, →ISBN, page 49:

     Unlike players who were often traded, baseball nomads who carried a hobo's bindle rather than a bat on their shoulders, Musial stayed put in St. Louis.

   • 2015, Pete Cava, Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players, →ISBN:

     Between 1996 and 2003, Lewis was a baseball nomad. At various times he signed contracts with San Diego, Detroit, Oakland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, the New York Mets, Cleveland, and the Chicago Cubs.

Synonyms

• (wanderer): See Thesaurus:vagabond

Derived terms

Derived terms

• grey nomad
• nomade
• nomadian
• nomadic
• nomadical
• nomadism
• nomadship

Translations

a member of society or class who wander with their herds

Arabic: بَدَوِيّ‎ (ar) m (badawiyy) Egyptian Arabic: بدوي‎ m (badawi) Armenian: քոչվոր (hy) (kʿočʿvor) Aromanian: numad m, numadã f Azerbaijani: köçəri Belarusian: качэ́ўнік m (kačéŭnik), качэ́ўніца f (kačéŭnica) Bulgarian: нома́д (bg) m (nomád) Catalan: nòmada (ca) m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 游牧民族 (yóumù mínzú) Coptic: ⲣⲉⲙⲛϫⲱⲓⲗⲓ m or f (remnčōili) Czech: nomád m, kočovník (cs) m Dutch: nomade (nl) m or f Esperanto: nomado Estonian: nomaad Finnish: nomadi (fi), paimentolainen (fi) French: nomade (fr) m or f Georgian: მომთაბარე (momtabare) German: Nomade (de) m, Nomadin (de) f Greek: νομάδας (el) m (nomádas) Ancient: νομάς m (nomás) Hindi: बंजारा (hi) m (bañjārā) Hungarian: nomád (hu) Icelandic: hirðingi (is) m Italian: nomade (it) m Japanese: 遊牧民 (ゆうぼくみん, yūbokumin) Kalmyk: нүүдлчн (nüüdlchn) Kazakh: көшпенді (köşpendı), көшпелі (köşpelı) Korean: 유목민 (ko) (yumongmin) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کۆچەر‎ (ku) (koçer), ڕەوەند‎ (rewend) Northern Kurdish: koçer (ku), revend (ku) Kyrgyz: көчмөн (köçmön), көчмөнчү (köçmönçü) Macedonian: номад m (nomad) Malayalam: നാടോടി (ml) (nāṭōṭi) Mongolian: нүүдэлчин (mn) (nüüdelčin) Polish: nomada (pl) m, koczownik (pl) m, koczowniczka f Portuguese: nômade (pt) m Romanian: nomad (ro) m, nomadă (ro) f Russian: коче́вник (ru) m (kočévnik), нома́д (ru) m (nomád), коче́вница (ru) f (kočévnica) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: но̀ма̄д m Roman: nòmād (sh) m Slovak: nomád m, kočovník m Spanish: nómada (es) m or f Swedish: nomad (sv) c Tajik: кӯчманчӣ (küčmančī), бодиягард (bodiyagard) Tamil: நாடோடி (ta) (nāṭōṭi) Thai: ผู้เร่ร่อน (pûu-rêe-rɔ̂ɔn), คนพเนจร (kon-pá-nee-jɔɔn) Tibetan: འབྲོག་པ ('brog pa), འབྲོག་མོ ('brog mo) Turkish: göçmen (tr), göçebe (tr) Ukrainian: кочівни́к m (kočivnýk), кочівни́ця f (kočivnýcja) Uzbek: koʻchmanchi (uz) Vietnamese: người dân du mục Volapük: (♂♀) nomad (vo), (♂) hinomad, (♀) jinomad Welsh: nomad, nomadiaid pl

a wanderer — see wanderer

Adjective

nomad (comparative more nomad, superlative most nomad)

1. Synonym of nomadic.

References

• "nomad, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Anagrams

• Damon, Doman, Domna, Mando, Monda, mad on, mad-on, mando, monad

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Romanian

Etymology

From French nomade. Compare Aromanian numad.

Noun

nomad m (plural nomazi, feminine equivalent nomadă)

1. nomad

Declension

Declension of nomad

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) nomad	nomadul	(niște) nomazi	nomazii
genitive/dative	(unui) nomad	nomadului	(unor) nomazi	nomazilor
vocative	nomadule		nomazilor

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nǒmaːd/
• Hyphenation: no‧mad

Noun

nòmād m (Cyrillic spelling но̀ма̄д)

1. nomad

Declension

Declension of nomad

	singular	plural
nominative	nòmād	nomadi
genitive	nomáda	nomada
dative	nomadu	nomadima
accusative	nomada	nomade
vocative	nomade	nomadi
locative	nomadu	nomadima
instrumental	nomadom	nomadima

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Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French nomade. Attested since 1766.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔmɑːd/, /nʊmɑːd/
• Rhymes: -ɑːd

Noun

nomad c

1. nomad

Declension

Declension of nomad
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	nomad	nomaden	nomader	nomaderna
Genitive	nomads	nomadens	nomaders	nomadernas

Derived terms

• nomadfolk
• nomadisera
• nomadisk
• nomadkultur
• nomadliv
• nomadstam

References

• nomad in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• nomad in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• nomad in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)