nerd
/nɜːd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.66 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of a subculture revolving around intellectualism, technology, video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media.
Derogatory; Informal
noun
One who is stupid and socially inept or unattractive; a social outcast.
Dated; Derogatory; Informal
name
Alternative form of NERDS.
Example Sentences
- "The bullies used to call him a nerd at school."
- "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."
- "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."
- ""We were all geeks and nerds, but he was unusually poorly adjusted," recalls Chess, now a mathematics professor at Hunter College."
- ""Yes, I am super nerd, and the whole room cracked up," Said Orszag."
- "a computer nerd"
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.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /nɜːd/
- British English: /nɜːd/