nerd

UK/nɜːd//nɝd/

nerd noun: a person who is intellectual but generally introverted.

Noun (1)

nerd (plural nerds)

(derogatory, slang, sometimes) A person who is intellectual but generally introverted.
- The bullies used to call him a nerd at school.
- 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.1953 Advertisement for "Businessman's Lunch", a play by Michael Quinn, in Patricia Brown, Gloria Mundi
(derogatory, informal, sometimes) One who has an intense, obsessive interest in something.
- a computer nerd
- a comic-book nerd
Synonyms:

geek, dag, propeller head
(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

Noun (2) capitalized: NERD

NERD (uncountable)

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of nonerosive reflux disease.

Proper noun capitalized: NERD

NERD

(alternative) Alternative form of NERDS.

nerd meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Punjabi and Arabic

nerd in Malayalam

intellectual, skillful person, generally introverted: ബുജി buji

nerd in Arabic

intellectual, skillful person, generally introverted: نِيرْد nīrd, غِيك ḡīk, مُهَوَّس muhawwas, اِنْطِوَائِيّ inṭiwāʔiyy, خَبَّاش ḵabbāš, قَرَّاي qarrāy

More languagesFewer languages

nerd in Malay: nerda
nerd in Thai: เนิร์ด nerd, หนอนหนังสือ nɔ̌ɔn-nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ

Examples of nerd in a sentence

"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:
To much of the world, we in America are nerds.1979, World Vision:

Synonyms of nerd

Forms of nerd

plural	nerds
alternative form	knurd
alternative form (rare)	nurd

Origin of nerd

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.

Words formed from nerd

Phrases with nerd

Words that rhyme with nerd

35 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about nerd

What does nerd mean?: Nerd means a person who is intellectual but generally introverted.
What is nerd in Urdu?: Nerd in Urdu is نرڈ. See Nerd meaning in Urdu.
How do you use nerd in a sentence?: "We were all geeks and nerds, but he was unusually poorly adjusted," recalls Chess, now a mathematics professor at Hunter College.
What part of speech is nerd?: Nerd can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce nerd?: Nerd is pronounced /nɜːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of nerd?: The plural of nerd is nerds.

Words near nerd in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: nerd (page history and authors); NERD (page history and authors); nerd (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nerd (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-nerd.ogg, Nerd-us-eng.wav.

Cite this entry: “nerd.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nerd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.