nerd
nounAU, UK /nɜːd/ · US /nɝːd/
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.
Derogatory, Slang, Sometimes A person who is intellectual but generally introverted.
- 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.
3 more examples
- 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.1984 December 29, Duncan Mitchel, “The Cult of Gay Machismo”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 9:
- "We were all geeks and nerds, but he was unusually poorly adjusted," recalls Chess, now a mathematics professor at Hunter College.2002, Sam Williams, Free as in Freedom:
- "Yes, I am super nerd, and the whole room cracked up," Said Orszag.2009 February 28, “Orszag to present budget blueprint”, in WBBH:
Derogatory, Informal, Sometimes One who has an intense, obsessive interest in something.
- a computer nerd
- a comic-book nerd
Derogatory, Informal, Sometimes A member of a subculture revolving around intellectualism, technology, video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media.
Dated, Derogatory, Informal, Sometimes One who is stupid and socially inept or unattractive; a social outcast.
- ALICE: Prithee , what might a nerd be ? GLORIA: A nerd is an idiot or other person absurd.[1976, Frank Shiras, Go Ask Alice, Dramatic Publishing, →ISBN, page 25:
- To much of the world, we in America are nerds. We don't understand the world we live in.1979, World Vision:
2 more examples
- "You're a nerd, Jake, a nerd. You're stupid. You're clumsy. You're dirt, Jake. You're nothing."1988, Dean Marney, The Trouble with Jake's Double, Dean Marney, →ISBN, page 98:
- Nerds of the Old West1990 April 23, Gary Larson, “[a cartoon depicting a cowboy leaving an outhouse with toilet paper attached to his spur]”, in The Far Side:
- Derived terms
58 terms
arachnerd, blerd, cybernerd, enginerd, entreprenerd, feminerd, internerd, millionerd, neek, nerdboy, nerdbrain, nerd chic, nerdcore, nerderati, nerdery, nerdette, nerdface, nerdfest, Nerdfighter, nerdgasm, nerd glasses, nerdhood, Nerdic, nerdification, nerdify, nerdiness, nerdish, nerdism, nerdistan, nerditude, nerdity test, nerdlet, nerdlike, nerdling, nerdlinger, nerdly, nerdo, nerdom, nerddom, nerd out, nerd pole, nerd revolution, nerd-snipe, nerd snipe, nerdsome, nerdspeak, nerdtastic, nerdvana, nerdwear, nerdy, nerk, seminerd, supernerd, technonerd, ubernerd, über-nerd, übernerd, word nerd