Wiktionary

nickname

See also: Nickname

English

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Etymology

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

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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.
    • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:
      […] Plato, who was named Aristocles after his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name.
    • 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 329:
      He excelled with the arbalest steel crossbow, winning the nickname the Arbalestier and joined Bahriyya regiment, the crack soldiers who defeated the Crusaders and became known as the Turkish Lions and the Islamic Templars.
    • 2024 June 23, Corinne Whiting, “The dazzling sides of ‘Grit City’”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 5 October 2024:
      Both literally and figuratively, the city has cleaned up without sacrificing the edge that inspired its locally embraced nickname of “Grit 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

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

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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  • (familiar invented given name): hypocoristic, pet name (affectionate nicknames); see epithet (invented names used alongside the actual name)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → German: Nickname
  • → Japanese: ニックネーム (nikkunēmu)
  • → Korean: 닉네임 (ningneim)
  • → Russian: никне́йм (niknéjm)

Translations

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Translations to be checked

Verb

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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.
    • 2010 January 25, “Iraq executes Chemical Ali”, in The Guardian‎[3], archived from the original on 29 April 2025:
      He was nicknamed Chemical Ali by Iraqi Kurds, who also called him the Butcher of Kurdistan

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Arika Okrent (5 July 2019), “12 Old Words That Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms”, in Mental Floss‎[1], Pocket, retrieved 8 October 2021
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