nickname

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Middle English nekename (“nickname”), alteration (due to an incorrect division of the words an ekename as a nekename) of previous ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“also, additional”) + name (“name”). Compare Old Norse aukanafn (“nickname”) and Low German Ökelname, Ekelname (“nickname”).

For incorrect division, see also apron, newt, orange, umpire, daffodil.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nɪkneɪm/

Noun

nickname (plural nicknames)

1. A familiar, invented given name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing.
2. A kind of byname that describes a person by a characteristic of that person.

Synonyms

• (familiar invented given name): handle, hypocoristic, moniker, nick, sobriquet, pet name
• (byname): antonomasia, byname, cognomen

Translations

familiar, invented given name

• Arabic: لقب (ar) (láqab) m, كنية (ar) (kúnya) f, اسم الدلع (ar) (ism al-dála3) m
• Catalan: sobrenom (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 綽號 (cmn), 绰号 (cmn) (chuòhào), 外號 (cmn), 外号 (cmn) (wàihào)

• Czech: přezdívka (cs) f
• Danish: øgenavn (da) n, kælenavn (da) n
• Dutch: bijnaam (nl)
• Estonian: hüüdnimi (et)
• Finnish: lempinimi (fi)
• French: surnom (fr) m
• Galician: alcume (gl) m
• Georgian: მეტსახელი (ka) (metsaxeli)
• German: Spitzname (de) m
• Greek: παρατσούκλι (el) (paratsoúkli) n

• Hebrew: כִּינּוּי חִיבָּה (he), שֵׁם לווַאי (he)
• Hungarian: becenév (hu)
• Italian: soprannome (it) m
• Japanese: 愛称 (ja) (aishō), ニックネーム (ja) (nikkunēmu), 渾名 (ja), 綽名 (ja) (あだな, adana)
• Latin: cognomen (la) m
• Luxembourgish: Spëtznumm (lb) m
• Macedonian: прекар (mk) (prékar) m
• Maltese: laqam (mt)
• Norwegian: kallenavn (no) n
• Portuguese: (Brazil) apelido (pt) m, (Portugal) alcunha (pt) m
• Russian: кличка (ru) (klíčka) f, прозвище (ru) (prózvišče) n, псевдоним (ru) (psevdoním) m (pseudonym)
• Serbo-Croatian: nadimak (sh) m
• Spanish: apodo (es) m, mote (es) m, sobrenombre (es) m, (Bolivia, Peru) chapa (es) f
• Swahili: msimbo (sw)
• Swedish: smeknamn (sv) n, öknamn (sv) n (a deregatory nickname)

byname

• Danish: tilnavn (da) n, øgenavn (da) n
• Finnish: liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi)
• German: Beiname (de) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilnavn (no) n

  Nynorsk: tilnamn (nn) n

• Polish: przezwisko (pl) n
• Swahili: msimbo (sw)
• Swedish: tillnamn (sv) n, binamn (sv) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: petnomo (eo), kromnomo (eo)

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).

Translations

to give a nickname to

• Czech: přezdívat (cs)
• Finnish: antaa lempinimi (fi), liikanimi (fi), lisänimi (fi), nimetä (fi)
• French: surnommer (fr)

• Icelandic: uppnefna (is)
• Italian: soprannominare (it)
• Swahili: msimbo (sw)