nickname

Definition

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.

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.

Example Sentences

• ""The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City."
• "[…] Plato, who was named Aristocles after his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name."
• "He excelled with the arbalest steel crossbow, winning the nickname the Arbalestier and joined Bahriyya regiment, the crack soldiers who defeated the Crusaders and became known as the Turkish Lions and the Islamic Templars."