nickname
/ˈnɪkneɪm/
nickname noun: a familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.
Noun
nickname (plural nicknames)
- A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.
- "The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City.
- […] Plato, who was named Aristocles after his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii
- A familiar, shortened or diminutive name for a person or thing.
- My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny.
Verb
nickname (third-person singular simple present nicknames, present participle nicknaming, simple past and past participle nicknamed)
- To give a nickname to (a person or thing).
- Gerald, nicknamed "Jerry", was usually a very cheerful person.
- He was nicknamed Chemical Ali by Iraqi Kurds, who also called him the Butcher of Kurdistan2010 January 25, “Iraq executes Chemical Ali”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2025
nickname meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
nickname in Hindi
- familiar, invented given name
- उपनाम upnām, लक़ब laqab
nickname in Tamil
- அடை பெயர், செல்லப் பெயர், விளையாட்டுப் பெயர்
nickname in Marathi
- टोपणनाव
nickname in Urdu
- familiar, invented given name
- اُپ نام up nām, لَقَب laqab
More languagesFewer languages
- nickname in Bengali
- ডাকনাম ḍakonam
- nickname in Telugu
- మారుపేరు
- nickname in Malayalam
- ചെല്ലപ്പേര് cellappērŭ, അപരനാമം aparanāmaṁ
- nickname in Kannada
- ಅಡ್ಡಹೆಸರು, ಪರಿಹಾಸದ ಹೆಸರು, ಉಪನಾಮ
- nickname in Punjabi
- ਉਪਨਾਮ
- nickname in Gujarati
- ઉપનામ
- nickname in Odia
- ଉପନାମ, ଡାକନାମ
- nickname in Pashto
- لقب laqab
- nickname in Tagalog
- palayaw
- nickname in Arabic
- لَقَب laqab, كُنْيَة kunya, اِسْم الدَّلَع ism ad-dalaʕ
- nickname in Indonesian
- panggilan, menjuluki
- nickname in Thai
- ชื่อเล่น chʉ̂ʉ-lên
Examples of nickname in a sentence
- Jupiter became the nickname of John Pierpont Morgan in late 19th century finance.
- The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner.
- The nickname "Big Apple" refers to the city of New York.
Synonyms of nickname
Forms of nickname
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | nicknames |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | nicknames |
| present participle | nicknaming |
| past participle | nicknamed |
| past | nicknamed |
Origin of nickname
From Middle English neke name, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“additional”) + name. Compare Old Norse aukanafn, auknafn, auknefni, Faroese eyknevni, Danish øgenavn, Norwegian Nynorsk aukenamn, Swedish öknamn, and German Low German Ökelname. For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, orange, umpire.
Words formed from nickname
Questions about nickname
- What does nickname mean?
- Nickname means a familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.
- What is nickname in Hindi?
- Nickname in Hindi is उपनाम (upnām), लक़ब (laqab). See Nickname meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is nickname?
- Nickname can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce nickname?
- Nickname is pronounced /ˈnɪkneɪm/.
- What is the plural of nickname?
- The plural of nickname is nicknames.
Words near nickname in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nickname (page history and authors); nickname (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nickname (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nickname (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); അപരനാമം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); nickname (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nickname (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nickname (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nickname (Odia, 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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nickname.wav.
Cite this entry: “nickname.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nickname. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.