Etymology Map
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Nickname

3 stages from Old English to English.

Today it means a familiar or humorous name used instead of a real name

Where does the word "nickname" come from? It comes from Old English ēaca, passing through Middle English before entering English (1500s).

1
Stage 1 of 3
ēaca
Old English · medieval
"addition"
'an addition, increase', related to the verb ēcan 'to add', which survives in 'to eke out'
2
Stage 2 of 3
ekename
Middle English · 1300s
"extra name"
'an additional name'; the Promptorium Parvulorum, the first English-Latin dictionary (c. 1440), lists both 'neke name, or eke name', as 'an ekename' was being heard as 'a nekename'
3
Stage 3 of 3
nickname
English · 1500s
"familiar or humorous name"
the n stolen from the article stuck, and the vowel shifted to 'nick'
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Read the full story

Nickname’s story begins in Old English: ēaca meant “addition.” 'an addition, increase', related to the verb ēcan 'to add', which survives in 'to eke out'. By 1300s, the word had taken hold in Middle English as ekename. 'an additional name'; the Promptorium Parvulorum, the first English-Latin dictionary (c. 1440), lists both 'neke name, or eke name', as 'an ekename' was being heard as 'a nekename'. It reached English by 1500s as nickname. The n stolen from the article stuck, and the vowel shifted to 'nick'. Today, nickname means a familiar or humorous name used instead of a real name.