Nerd! How the word popularized by Dr. Seuss went from geeky insult to mainstream

It may conjure images of Family Matters‘ bespectacled, suspenders-clad Steve Urkel. Or the theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. Or Scooby-Doo’s Velma.

Or you may self-identify as a nerd due to your keen interest in a certain hobby or subject, like movies or grammar or whimsical parade floats.

Nerd has been part of our lexicon for at least three-quarters of a century, its geeky meaning embodied by some of the most recognizable characters in film and TV history. Still, how exactly it got into our vocabulary remains a bit murky.

“I’ve been making videos as the Etymology Nerd for a while, and so it’s my job to know what the etymology of ‘nerd’ is,” said Adam Aleksic, a linguist, content creator and author of the book Algospeak. “But the problem is that it’s a little bit obscure. It’s a very complicated story.”

For NPR’s Word of the Week, let’s nerd out on some word history.

It may have started with a nonsense word

The leading theory about the origin of nerd is that it likely first appeared in print in the 1950 children’s book If I Ran the Zoo written by Dr. Seuss, the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel. (Read more about the controversy surrounding that book here.)

In the book, Seuss’s young narrator says:

And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo
And bring back an It-kutch, a Preep and a Proo,
A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too!

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, nerd became a midcentury slang term used by U.S. students. It potentially developed from the 1940s word “nert,” an alteration of the word “nut” that meant a “stupid or crazy person,” the dictionary said.

If Seuss did have a hand in creating nerd, Aleksic said it would be what linguists call a nonce formation, meaning a word that’s made for one purpose and then gets reused.

“So if Dr. Seuss did coin the word ‘nerd,’ he’s probably going off other words like nert — which was around — or nuts,” Aleksic said. “And then he goes with it. And then other people are like, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a nerd. Let’s go with it.'”

One year after its use by Seuss, nerd popped up in a 1951 Newsweek article describing modern slang. “In Detroit,” the author wrote, “someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd, or in a less severe case, a scurve.”

Merriam-Webster recounts some other popular theories for the word’s genesis, including the possibility that it evolved from the backwards spelling of “drunk,” implying that nerds would “rather study than party.” Or that it was lifted from the name of a ventriloquist’s dummy, Mortimer Snerd, created by radio performer Edgar Bergen. The dictionary says there’s no evidence for either theory.

Nerds were outsiders. Then they became cool?

It didn’t take long for nerds to take their place in pop culture.

Jerry Lewis portrayed a hapless scientist in 1963’s The Nutty Professor. By the 1970s, Happy Days cool guy Arthur “Fonz” Fonzarelli was lobbing nerd around as an insult, saying in one episode that there are two types of people: “cool and nerds.”

The following decade solidified the stereotype. In 1984 the cult classic Revenge of the Nerds was released, pitting a group of outcast college students against their jock tormentors.

But around the end of the 20th century, nerd culture assumed a more respected spot in American culture. The computing revolution made Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — and later internet startup CEOs — household names. Rock bands like Weezer sported thick-rimmed glasses. And you’ve seen the Star Wars movies, right?

Mathew Klickstein, a pop culture historian, author and filmmaker, said the 90s independent film movement and indie rock trends started making “the weirdos, the misfits, the outsiders, the nerds, the geeks, cool.” He noted that it even spawned “nerdy geek chic” fashion styles and more.

“There’s questions now about, has the tail wagged the dog at this point,” Klickstein said. “Are there people who are claiming they’re nerdy, claiming they’re geeky, who really just are vaunting or emulating the style without really understanding the substance?”

The nerd goes mainstream

In recent decades, art forms that once may have been considered the realm of nerds — comic books, science fiction, video games — have exploded in popularity across the U.S.

As Parks and Recreation‘s Ben Wyatt once said in a moment slightly lacking in self-awareness: “You know, nerd culture is mainstream now, so when you use the word ‘nerd’ derogatorily, it means you’re the one that’s out of the zeitgeist.”

The popularization of nerd culture has also dovetailed with an expanded definition of the word itself.

Now you don’t have to wear a pocket protector and be into computers to qualify as a nerd. Nerds are simply people who are really into a certain thing.

Merriam-Webster defines a nerd as “an unstylish or socially awkward person.” But the first definition on its website characterizes a nerd as “a person devoted to intellectual, academic, or technical pursuits or interests” or “a person preoccupied with or devoted to a particular activity or field of interest.”

According to Omar Holmon, an author, content creator and co-founder of the website Black Nerd Problems, “it could be a fan for a spectrum of things, and that spectrum being literally anything. It’s whatever you are passionate about.”

Holmon said nerds strive to spread their enthusiasm to others. “How can I get you to care about this thing that you don’t know about, that I know about? And hopefully you’ll be as passionate about it as I am.”