nerf

• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɝf/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɜːf/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f

Circa 1950s? (Please provide an etymology)

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

1. (motor racing, transitive) To bump lightly, whether accidentally or purposefully.

   A racer will often nerf another as a psychological tactic.

• nerf bar
• nerf net

From the Nerf brand of toys designed as non-dangerous counterparts of existing things, such as sports balls and guns.

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

1. (transitive, slang, video games) To cripple or weaken an element of a video game during its development (such as a character, a weapon, a spell, etc.).

   Synonym: gimp

   The lightning spell was originally pretty powerful, but in the sequel they nerfed it so it became completely useless.

2. (transitive, slang) To arbitrarily limit or reduce the capability of.
   • 2019 May 17, Fred Lambert, Electrek‎, retrieved 2019-05-19:

     Tesla nerfs Autopilot in Europe due to new regulations

• debuff, worsen, deteriorate, cripple, degenerate

• ameliorate, buff (game slang), improve, renew, renovate, revamp

nerf (plural nerfs)

1. (slang, video games) The weakening or worsening of a character, a weapon, a spell, etc.

• Fern, fern, fren, fren'

• IPA^(key): /nɛrf/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nerf
• Rhymes: -ɛrf
• Rhymes: -ɛrf

From earlier nerve, from Middle Dutch *narwe, from Old Dutch *narwa, from Proto-Germanic *narwō. For the change of -rwe → -rf, compare verf.

nerf f (plural nerven, diminutive nerfje n)

1. grain of wood

• houtnerf

From Latin nervus.

nerf f (plural nerven, diminutive nerfje n)

1. (obsolete) nerve
2. vein of a leaf

• bladnerf

From Middle French nerf, from Old French nerf, inherited from Latin nervus.

• IPA^(key): /nɛʁ/

• audio

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nerf m (plural nerfs)

1. (anatomy) nerve
2. (figuratively) force, power, strength

   Les nerfs, les garçons! On n'est pas sur un bateau de plaisance. — Put some muscle into it, boys! We are not on a pleasure boat!

• énerver
• innerver
• nerf de bœuf
• nerval
• nerver
• nerveux
• nervure

• neurone

• “nerf” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From Old French nerf.

nerf m (plural nerfz)

1. nerve

• French: nerf

From Latin nervus.

nerf m (oblique plural ners, nominative singular ners, nominative plural nerf)

1. nerve
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 185 of this essay:

     Donc lepre est maladie de chair et non pas du cueur, ne des os, de des nerfs etc.

     Therefore leprosy is a disease of the flesh and not of the heart, nor of the bones, nor of the nerves, etc.

• nerveus

• Middle French: nerf
  • French: nerf

Borrowed from Medieval Latin nervus (“nerve”), from Latin nervus (“sinew”).

• IPA^(key): /nɛrv/

nerf f (plural nerfau)

1. nerve

• nerfol
• nerfus