Nerdy

How to spell nerdy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce nerdy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nerdy mean?

1. adjectiveCharacteristic of a studious, socially awkward, or intensely enthusiastic person, especially regarding technical or academic interests.

Nerdy in a sentence

• His nerdy obsession with vintage computers fills the spare room.

• The conference attracted a friendly, nerdy crowd of software engineers.

Where does nerdy come from?

Language of origin: Other

This is a modern American coinage built on the noun 'nerd', a word whose first printed appearance is usually traced to the Dr. Seuss children's book 'If I Ran the Zoo' from 1950, where a 'nerd' is simply the name of an imaginary creature. By the mid-1950s American student slang had adopted 'nerd' for an unfashionable, bookish, or socially awkward person, and the exact route from the Seuss creature to the slang sense is genuinely unclear, with some suggesting it was an independent invention. Whatever its source, the adjective form 'nerdy' was created in the usual English way by adding the suffix -y, which turns a noun into a descriptive adjective, exactly as 'dirt' becomes 'dirty'. Over the following decades the word softened in tone, and today calling something nerdy can be affectionate praise for enthusiasm and expertise rather than an insult. The spelling is straightforward once you notice it is simply the four-letter base 'nerd' with a single 'y' added, so there is no doubled consonant to worry about.

How the word is built

• nerd (a studious or socially awkward enthusiast)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'having the quality of')