nerd

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

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!

• Possibly a rebracketing of inert as a nert, as in he's inert = he's a nerd, in reference to one's lack of competence or athletic ability.
• Various unlikely folk etymologies and less likely backronymic speculations also exist.

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d

nerd (plural nerds)

1. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A person who is intellectual but generally introverted.
   • 1953 Advertisement for "Businessman's Lunch", a play by Michael 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.

   • 1984 December 29, Duncan Mitchel, “The Cult of Gay Machismo”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 9:

     I once found myself listening to a gay man who was saying wistfully, "I wish there was someplace you could go, maybe a club, where only masculine men would be allowed in." […] Ever tactful, I did not point out to him that if such a place existed, he probably would not be allowed into it, for while he wasn't a campy sort he was too much of a nerd to meet his own specification.

   • 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. (informal, sometimes derogatory) A member of a subculture revolving around intellectualism, technology, video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media.
4. (informal, sometimes derogatory, dated) One who is socially inept or unattractive, but often brainy; a social outcast.

• See also Thesaurus:dork

• → Dutch: nerd
• → Faroese: nørdur
• → Finnish: nörtti
• → Icelandic: nörd
• → Norwegian Bokmål: nerd
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: nerd
• → Polish: nerd
• → Portuguese: nerd
• → Spanish: nerd
• → Swedish: nörd
• → Turkish: nörd

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “nerd”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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

• dern, rend

Borrowed from English nerd.

• IPA^(key): /nøːrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nerd

nerd m (plural nerds, diminutive nerdje n)

1. nerd

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

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

nerd

Wikipedia ^no

Borrowed from English nerd.

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

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

1. a nerd

• “nerd” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

nerd

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Borrowed from English nerd.

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

1. a nerd

• “nerd” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

nerd

Wikipedia ^pl

Borrowed from English nerd.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrt
• Syllabification: nerd

nerd m pers

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

• nerd in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

1. nerd (intellectual, introverted and quirky person)

   Synonyms: totó, (Brazil) CDF

nerd (invariable)

1. nerdy (who is a nerd)

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

• nerdo

Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

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

nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

1. nerd