nickname
- 01 A2 Elementary
an informal name for a person or thing, often based on their character or a shorter version of their real name.
an informal, often descriptive or diminutive name used as a substitute for a proper name.
Simple“His real name is Richard, but everyone calls him by his nickname, 'Richie'.”
In context“The city earned the nickname 'The Big Apple' in the 1920s, and the moniker has remained popular with tourists ever since.”
Usage nicknames quiz
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.