nerd
pronunciation
How to pronounce nerd in British English:
UK [nɜ:d]
How to pronounce nerd in American English:
US [nɜrd]
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- Noun:
- an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or studying excessively
Word Origin
- nerd
- nerd: [20] It seems likely that nerd, a term for a dull, socially inept or otherwise obnoxious person that appeared in US slang in the early 1950s, was inspired by a whimsical creature called a ‘nerd’ that was invented by the American children’s author ‘Dr Seuss’ (Theodore Seuss Geisel (1904–91)) and introduced by him in his book If I Ran the Zoo (1950): ‘And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too!’ In thinking up the word he may have been influenced by Mortimer Snerd, the name of a dummy used by the American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
- nerd (n.)
- 1951, U.S. student slang, probably an alteration of 1940s slang nert "stupid or crazy person," itself an alteration of nut. The word turns up in a Dr. Seuss book from 1950 ("If I Ran the Zoo"), which may have contributed to its rise.
Example
- 1. I picked " nerd " as the word years ago to describe this demographic .
- 2. Campaigners in sweden are trying to force a dictionary to change its definition of " nerd " .
- 3. And that 's when you 've found yourself a nerd soul-mate .
- 4. Eighty-seven percent of them say they were more comfortable being called a geek than a nerd .
- 5. So far I 've been finessing the relationship between smart and nerd , using them as if they were interchangeable .