nickname

See also: Nickname

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪkneɪm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

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his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name.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.

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

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

Synonyms

• (familiar invented given name): byname, handle, moniker, nick; sobriquet (literary); cognomen (historical, literary, or humorous; uncommon); surname, eponym (obsolete)

Hyponyms

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

Derived terms

• nicknameable
• nicknamee
• nicknameless
• nicknamer
• nicknamey

Descendants

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

Translations

familiar, invented given name

• Afrikaans: bynaam, volksnaam
• Albanian: nofkë (sq) f
• Arabic: لَقَب (ar) m (laqab), كُنْيَة f (kunya), اِسْم الدَّلَع m (ism ad-dalaʕ)
• Armenian: մականուն (hy) (makanun)
• Azerbaijani: ləqəb, ayama
• Bashkir: ҡушамат (quşamat)
• Belarusian: мяну́шка f (mjanúška), клі́чка f (klíčka), на́звішча n (názvišča), на́зьвішча n (názʹvišča) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: ডাকনাম (bn) (ḍakonam)
• Bikol Central: bansag (bcl)
• Breton: moranv (br) m
• Bulgarian: пря́кор (bg) m (prjákor), про́звище (bg) n (prózvište)
• Catalan: sobrenom (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 花名 (faa¹ meng^4-2)

  Mandarin: 綽號 / 绰号 (zh), 外號 / 外号 (zh) (wàihào), 花名 (zh) (huāmíng)

• Czech: přezdívka (cs) f
• Danish: øgenavn n, kælenavn n
• Dutch: bijnaam (nl) m
• Esperanto: kromnomo sg, alnomo
• Estonian: hüüdnimi
• Finnish: lempinimi (fi)
• French: surnom (fr) m, sobriquet (fr) m
• Galician: alcume (gl) m, alcuño m
• Georgian: მეტსახელი (meṭsaxeli), ზედმეტსახელი (zedmeṭsaxeli), შერქმეული სახელი (šerkmeuli saxeli)
• German: Spitzname (de) m
• Greek: παρατσούκλι (el) n (paratsoúkli)

  Ancient: ἐπωνυμία f (epōnumía)

• Hebrew: כִּינּוּי חִיבָּה m (kinuy khiba), שֵׁם לווַאי m (shem levái)
• Hindi: उपनाम (hi) m (upnām), लक़ब (laqab)
• Hungarian: becenév (hu)
• Icelandic: gælunafn (is) n
• Ido: surnomacho (io)
• Indonesian: panggilan (id)
• Irish: leasainm m, forainm (ga) m
• Italian: soprannome (it) m
• Japanese: 愛称 (ja) (あいしょう, aishō), ニックネーム (ja) (nikkunēmu), 渾名 (ja) (あだな, adana), 綽名 (あだな, adana), 綽号 (しゃくごう, shakugō)
• Kazakh: лақап (laqap), ат (kk) (at), лақап ат (laqap at)
• Khmer: សម្មតិនាម (sɑmmat niəm)
• Korean: 애칭(愛稱) (ko) (aeching), 별명(別名) (ko) (byeolmyeong), 닉네임 (ningneim)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: leqeb (ku)

• Kyrgyz: ылакап ат (ılakap at), ат (ky) (at)
• Lao: ຊື່ນ້ອຍ (sư̄ nǭi)
• Latin: agnomen n, agnomentum n
• Latvian: iesauka f, palama f
• Lithuanian: pravardė f
• Louisiana Creole: ti-nom
• Low German:

  German Low German: Ökelnaam m, Ökelnoom m

• Luxembourgish: Spëtznumm m
• Macedonian: прекар m (prekar)
• Maltese: laqam m
• Maori: ingoa kārangaranga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хоч (mn) (xoč)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kallenavn (no) n, økenavn n, kjælenavn n

  Nynorsk: kallenamn n, aukenamn n, kjælenamn n

• Ottoman Turkish: لقب (lakab)
• Pashto: لقب m (laqab)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: لَقَب (laġab), کُنْیِه (konye), پاژْنام (pâžnâm)

• Plautdietsch: Ieekjenomen m
• Polish: przezwisko (pl) n, ksywa (pl) f, ksywka f, przydomek (pl) m, nick (pl) m
• Portuguese: (Brazil) apelido (pt) m, (Portugal) alcunha (pt) m
• Romanian: poreclă (ro) f
• Russian: кли́чка (ru) f (klíčka), про́звище (ru) n (prózvišče), псевдони́м (ru) m (psevdoním) (pseudonym), прозва́ние (ru) n (prozvánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: ath-ainm m, far-ainm m, frith-ainm m, leas-ainm m, leth-ainm m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́димак m

  Roman: nádimak (sh) m

• Sicilian: (Both individual or family nickname) nciuria f, suprannomu (scn) m
• Slovak: prezývka f
• Slovene: vzdevek (sl) m, nadimek m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gódło n

• Spanish: apodo (es) m, mote (es) m, sobrenombre (es) m, (Bolivia, Peru) chapa (es) f, cognombre (es) m, cognomen (es) m
• Swahili: msimbo (sw) class 3/4, jina la utani
• Swedish: smeknamn (sv) n, öknamn (sv) n (a derogatory nickname)
• Tagalog: palayaw
• Tajik: лақаб (laqab), куния (kuniya), тахаллус (taxallus)
• Tatar: кушамат (tt) (quşamat)
• Thai: ชื่อเล่น (th) (chʉ̂ʉ-lên)
• Tibetan: མིང་འདོགས (ming 'dogs) (pejorative), གཅེས་མིང (gces ming) (endearing)
• Turkish: takma ad (tr), lakap (tr)
• Ukrainian: прі́звисько n (prízvysʹko), кли́чка f (klýčka) (colloquial)
• Urdu: اُپ نام m (up nām), لَقَب m (laqab)
• Uyghur: لەقەم (leqem)
• Uzbek: laqab (uz)
• Walloon: såvaedje no (wa) m, spot (wa) m, sobriket (wa) m, sobricot (wa) m
• Welsh: llysenw m, glasenw m

byname

• Afrikaans: bynaam, noemnaam
• Bashkir: ҡушамат (quşamat)
• Bulgarian: умали́телно и́ме n (umalítelno íme)
• Danish: tilnavn n, øgenavn n
• Finnish: liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi)
• French: sobriquet (fr) m
• German: Beiname (de) m
• Icelandic: uppnefni n, viðurnefni (is) n, auknefni n
• Middle English: surname, surnoun
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilnavn n

  Nynorsk: tilnamn n

• Polish: przezwisko (pl) n
• Sicilian: nciuria f, suprannomu (scn) m
• Spanish: nombrete m (Latin America)
• Swahili: msimbo (sw) class 3/4, jina la utani
• Swedish: tillnamn (sv) n, binamn (sv) n
• Turkish: lakap (tr), san (tr), sıfat (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: llysenw m, glasenw m
• West Coast Bajau: please add this translation if you can
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Yámana: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
• Yucatec Maya: please add this translation if you can
• Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} petnomo, ^{(please verify)} kromnomo

Verb

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.

Translations

to give a nickname to

• Afrikaans: bynaam gee
• Bikol Central: magbansag, bansagan
• Bulgarian: давам прякор (davam prjakor)
• Czech: přezdívat (cs)
• Dutch: bijnamen (nl)
• Finnish: antaa lempinimi, liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi), nimetä (fi)
• French: surnommer (fr)
• Georgian: სახელს არქმევს (saxels arkmevs), სახელს შეარქმევს (saxels šearkmevs)
• Greek: παρονομάζω (el) (paronomázo)

  Ancient: ἐπικαλέω (epikaléō)

• Icelandic: uppnefna
• Ido: surnomizar
• Indonesian: menjuluki (id)
• Italian: soprannominare
• Japanese: 渾名する (ja) (あだなする, adana suru)
• Polish: nadawać przezwisko impf, nadać przezwisko pf
• Portuguese: alcunhar (pt), apelidar (pt)
• Romanian: porecli (ro)
• Russian: прозыва́ть (ru) impf (prozyvátʹ), прозва́ть (ru) pf (prozvátʹ), крести́ть (ru) impf (krestítʹ), окрести́ть (ru) pf (okrestítʹ)
• Spanish: apodar (es), motejar (es), cognominar (es), trampar (Honduras)
• Ukrainian: прозива́ти (prozyváty) (impf.), прозва́ти (prozváty) (pf.)
• Volapük: näinemön (vo)
• Walloon: spoter (wa), sorlomer (wa), ribatijhî (wa), batijhî (wa)