nickname
/ˈnɪkneɪm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.91 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Example Sentences
- ""The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City."
- "[…] 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his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name."
- "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."
- "Both literally and figuratively, the city has cleaned up without sacrificing the edge that inspired its locally embraced nickname of “Grit City.”"
- "My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny."
- "Gerald, nicknamed "Jerry", was usually a very cheerful person."
Etymology
From Middle English neke name, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“additional”) + name. 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.