nerd

• knurd (folk etymology, very rare)
• nurd (very rare)

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!

• Various unlikely folk etymologies and less likely backronymic speculations also exist.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nûd, IPA^(key): /nɜːd/
• (US) enPR: nûrd, IPA^(key): /nɝːd/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)d

nerd (plural nerds)

1. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A person who is intellectual but generally introverted
   • 1953 Advertisement for "Businessman's Lunch", a play by Micheal Quinn, in Patricia Brown, Gloria Mundi

     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.

   • 2002, Sam Williams, Free as in Freedom:

     "We were all geeks and nerds, but he was unusually poorly adjusted," recalls Chess, now a mathematics professor at Hunter College.

   • 2009 February 28, “Orszag to present budget blueprint”, in WBBH:

     "Yes, I am super nerd, and the whole room cracked up," Said Orszag.

2. (informal, sometimes derogatory) One who has an intense, obsessive interest in something.

   Synonyms: geek, otaku

   a computer nerd

   a comic-book nerd

3. (slang, always derogatory) An unattractive, socially awkward, annoying, undesirable, and/or boring, person; a dork.

   Synonyms: dag (Australian), doofus, dork, dweeb, geek, goober, loser, propeller head, twerp

   Only a nerd would wear yellow and blue stripes with green pants.

   Nerds seem to have fun with each other, but in a way that causes others to laugh at them.

   Why are you hanging out with that nerd?

4. (post-1980s) A member of a subculture revolving around video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media.

• See also Thesaurus:dork

• Online Etymology Dictionary

• nerd on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Nerds on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

• dern, rend

Borrowed from English nerd.

• IPA^(key): /nøːrt/

• Audio

  (file)

nerd m (plural nerds, diminutive nerdje n)

1. nerd

Borrowed from English nerd.

• IPA^(key): /nærd/, /nøːɖ/
• Rhymes: -ærd, -øːɖ

nerd m (definite singular nerden, indefinite plural nerder, definite plural nerdene)

1. a nerd

• “nerd” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from English nerd.

nerd m (definite singular nerden, indefinite plural nerdar, definite plural nerdane)

1. a nerd

• “nerd” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from English nerd.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʁd͡ʒ/, /ˈnɛʁ.d͡ʒi/

nerd m, f (plural nerds)

1. nerd (intellectual, introverted and quirky person)

   Synonyms: CDF, totó

nerd (invariable, comparable)

1. nerdy (who is a nerd)

Until recently, this word was somewhat pejorative. Nowadays it is used both negatively and positively.

nerd m or f (plural nerds)

1. nerd