Nickname

//ˈnɪkneɪm// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    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."

  2. 2
    a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name) wordnet
  3. 3
    A familiar, shortened or diminutive name for a person or thing.

    "My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny."

  4. 4
    a descriptive name for a place or thing wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To give a nickname to (a person or thing). transitive

    "Gerald, nicknamed "Jerry", was usually a very cheerful person."

  2. 2
    give a nickname to wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bynamecognomendubhandlemonikersobriquet

Example

More examples

"Chance is a nickname for Providence."

Etymology

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.

Related phrases

given name

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.