pseudonym

See also: Pseudonym

English

WOTD – 5 October 2006

Etymology

Back-formation from pseudonymous, from French pseudonyme (“pseudonymous”, adjective), from Ancient Greek ψευδώνυμος (pseudṓnumos), from ψευδής (pseudḗs, “false”) and ὄνυμα (ónuma), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). Alternatively, analyzable as pseudo- +‎ -onym.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈs(j)uː.dəʊ.nɪm/, /ˈsu.də.nɪm/
• IPA^(key): /ˈsudoʊnɪm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

pseudonym (plural pseudonyms)

1. A fictitious name, as those used by writers and movie stars.

   The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

   • c. 1911 H. G. Wells, The Obliterated Man

     I doubt, indeed, whether I should not abandon the struggle altogether—leave this sad world of ordinary life for which I am so ill fitted, abandon the name of Cummins for some professional pseudonym, complete my self-effacement, and—a thing of tricks and tatters, of posing and pretence—go upon the stage.

   • 1928, H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

     The best example of its literary use so far are the German novel The Golem, by Gustav Meyrink, and the drama The Dybbuk, by the jewish writer using the pseudonym "Ansky".

Hyponyms

• (acting contexts): stage name
• (literary contexts): pen name, pen-name, nom de plume
• (military contexts): nom de guerre
• (another person's actual name adopted as a pseudonym): allonym

Coordinate terms

• alias, handle, moniker, nickname

Derived terms

• pseudonymity
• pseudonymization
• pseudonymize
• pseudonymized
• pseudonymous
• pseudonymously
• pseudonymousness

 

Translations

fictitious name

• Armenian: կեղծանուն (hy) (keġcanun)
• Catalan: pseudònim (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (fake name) 假名 (zh) (jiǎmíng), (assumed name) 化名 (zh) (huàmíng), (pen name) 筆名／笔名 (zh) (bǐmíng), 笔名 (zh) (bǐmíng), (stage name) 藝名／艺名 (zh) (yìmíng), 艺名 (zh) (yìmíng)

• Czech: pseudonym (cs) m
• Danish: pseudonym
• Dutch: pseudoniem (nl) n, schuilnaam (nl) m, deknaam (nl) m
• Esperanto: pseŭdonimo
• Estonian: varjunimi, pseudonüüm
• Finnish: salanimi (fi), nimimerkki (fi), pseudonyymi (fi)
• French: nom de guerre (fr) m, pseudonyme (fr) m
• German: Pseudonym (de) n
• Greek: ψευδώνυμο (el) n (psevdónymo)
• Hindi: तख़ल्लुस (taxallus)
• Hungarian: álnév (hu)
• Icelandic: höfundarnafn n, dulnefni n, leyninafn n
• Ido: pseudonimo (io)
• Irish: ainm bréige m, ainm cleite m (pen name)
• Italian: pseudonimo (it) m
• Japanese: 仮名 (ja) (かめい, kamei), 雅号 (がごう, gagō), 筆名 (ja) (ひつめい, hitsumei), ペンネーム (ja) (pennēmu), 芸名 (ja) (geimei), 武号 (ja) (used by a martial artist)
• Kazakh: бүркеншік ат (kk) (bürkenşık at)
• Korean: 익명 (ko) (ingmyeong) (匿名 (ko))
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زِڕناو (zirrnaw)

  Northern Kurdish: zirrnav (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: زِڕناو (zirrnaw)

• Latin: pseudonymum n
• Norman: nom-d'plieunme m (Jersey; pen name)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pseudonym (no) n, psevdonym n

  Nynorsk: pseudonym n, psevdonym n

• Polish: pseudonim (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: pseudónimo (pt) m, pseudônimo (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: pseudonim (ro) n
• Russian: псевдони́м (ru) m (psevdoním), вы́мышленное и́мя n (výmyšlennoje ímja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: псеудо̀ним m

  Roman: pseudònim (sh) m

• Spanish: seudónimo (es) m
• Swedish: pseudonym (sv)
• Thai: นามแฝง (th) (naam-fɛ̌ɛng)
• Tibetan: མིང་རྫུས་མ (ming rdzus ma)
• Vietnamese: biệt hiệu (vi), bút danh (vi), tên chữ (vi), tên tự (vi)
• Welsh: ffugenw m

See also

• codename, nom de code

---

Czech

Noun

1. pseudonym

---

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sœvdonyːm/, [sœwd̥oˈnyːˀm]

Noun

pseudonym n (singular definite pseudonymet, plural indefinite pseudonymer)

1. pseudonym

Inflection

Declension of pseudonym

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	pseudonym	pseudonymet	pseudonymer	pseudonymerne
genitive	pseudonyms	pseudonymets	pseudonymers	pseudonymernes

Adjective

pseudonym

1. pseudonymous

Inflection

Inflection of pseudonym
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Indefinte common singular	pseudonym	—	—2
Indefinite neuter singular	pseudonymt	—	—2
Plural	pseudonyme	—	—2
Definite attributive1	pseudonyme	—	—
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Further reading

• pseudonym on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

---

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [psɔɪ̯doˈnyːm]

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

pseudonym (not comparable)

1. pseudonymous

Further reading

• “pseudonym” in Duden online

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• psevdonym

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψευδώνυμος (pseudṓnumos)

Noun

pseudonym n (definite singular pseudonymet, indefinite plural pseudonym or pseudonymer, definite plural pseudonyma or pseudonymene)

1. a pseudonym

References

• “pseudonym” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• psevdonym

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψευδώνυμος (pseudṓnumos)

Noun

pseudonym n (definite singular pseudonymet, indefinite plural pseudonym, definite plural pseudonyma)

1. a pseudonym

References

• “pseudonym” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.