nerd

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See also: Nerd and NERD

English

Alternative forms

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!
  • 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.

Pronunciation

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 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.
    Synonyms: geek, (Australia) dag, propeller head
    Hyponym: otaku
    a computer nerd
    a comic-book nerd
  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 stupid and socially inept or unattractive; a social outcast.
  • 1979, World Vision:
    To much of the world, we in America are nerds. We don't understand the world we live in.
  • 1988, Dean Marney, The Trouble with Jake's Double, Dean Marney, →ISBN, page 98:
    "You're a nerd, Jake, a nerd. You're stupid. You're clumsy. You're dirt, Jake. You're nothing."
  • 1990 April 23, Gary Larson, “”, in The Far Side:
    Nerds of the Old West
  • Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Descendants

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

    Translations

    References

    Further reading

    Anagrams

    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

    Norwegian Bokmål

    Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia no

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English nerd.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

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

    1. a nerd

    References

    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia nn

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English nerd.

    Noun

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

    1. a nerd

    References

    Polish

    Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia pl

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English nerd.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    nerd m pers

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

    Declension

    Further reading

    • nerd in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Portuguese

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

    Pronunciation

     

    Noun

    nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

    1. nerd (intellectual, introverted and quirky person)
      Synonyms: totó, (Brazil) CDF

    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.

    Spanish

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

    Pronunciation

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

    Noun

    nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

    1. nerd