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!

• 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

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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 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. [from 1980s]
4. (informal, sometimes derogatory, dated) One who is socially inept or unattractive, but often brainy; a social outcast.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:dork

Derived terms

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

 

Descendants

• → 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

intellectual, skillful person, generally introverted

• Arabic: نِيرْد m (nīrd), غِيك m (ḡīk), مُهَوَّس m (muhawwas), اِنْطِوَائِيّ m (inṭiwāʔiyy)

  Algerian Arabic: خَبَّاش m (ḵabbāš), قَرَّاي m (qarrāy)

  Moroccan Arabic: قرّاي (qrrāi)

• Armenian: ներդ (hy) (nerd), կրծող (hy) (krcoġ), բոտանիկ (botanik)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 毒男

  Mandarin: 书呆子 (zh) (shūdāizi)

• 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 (ja) (nādo), がり勉 (がりべん, gariben) (slang)
• Korean: 오타쿠 (ko) (otaku)
• Lithuanian: moksliukas m, moksliukė f
• Malay: nerda
• Malayalam: ബുജി (buji)
• 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), задро́т (ru) m (zadrót)
• Serbo-Croatian: штребер m
• Spanish: ñoño (es) m, cerebrito (es) m, mateo (es) m (Chile), norio m (Ecuador), matado (es) m (Peru), empollón (es) m (Spain), friki (es) m or f (Spain), nerdo (es) m
• 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 (2001–2024) “nerd”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• dern, rend

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

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.

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.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English nerd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛrt/

• 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 Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʁ.d͡ʒi/ [ˈnɛɦ.d͡ʒi], /ˈnɛʁd͡ʒ/ [ˈnɛɦd͡ʒ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʁ.d͡ʒi/ [ˈnɛɦ.d͡ʒi], /ˈnɛʁd͡ʒ/ [ˈnɛɦd͡ʒ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛɾ.d͡ʒi/, /ˈnɛɾd͡ʒ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʁ.d͡ʒi/, /ˈnɛʁd͡ʒ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛɻd͡ʒ/, /ˈnɛɻ.d͡ʒi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈnɐɾ.dɨ/ [ˈnɐɾ.ðɨ]

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

• nerdo

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English nerd.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

nerd m or f by sense (plural nerds)

1. nerd