nanny

Etymology

It is probably formed from English nan + -y, perhaps after Nanny, a pet form of the names Anne and Agnes.^[2] Several dictionaries simply call it a pet form of the name Ann used as a common noun,^[3][4][5][6] and Klein explains the name Nan as a misdivision of “mine Ann” into “my Nan”.^[7] Others see a widespread nursery word for a woman other than the mother: Merriam-Webster thinks it probably of baby-talk origin,^[8] the American Heritage Dictionary calls it an alteration of nana,^[9] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com compare Ancient Greek νάννα (nánna, “aunt”) and Welsh nain (“grandmother”).^[10][11] Collins describes it as a child's name for a nurse.^[12] The goat sense is shortened from nanny goat, where Etymonline and Barnhart take Nanny as the woman's name.^[2][10][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman employed to look after a family's children: 1785, in the title of a piece in J. DeCastro's Memoirs.^[2][8] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1795,^[10][13] while the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English place it in the early 18th century.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The name was used of women before it meant a nurse: a nanny-house was a brothel in slang from about 1700,^[10][13] and nanny was a prostitute from 1727.^[14] The nanny goat is recorded from 1703,^[2] 1706 in Etymonline,^[10] and nanny alone for a female goat from 1846,^[2] with the slang get someone's nanny, to annoy them, from 1909.^[2][14] The nurse sense spread to a grandmother, especially as a child's form of address, by 1927.^[2] From 1959 a nanny was also any person or institution thought to be too protective or interfering,^[2][12] and the verb, to look after someone in the manner of a nanny or to be unduly protective of them, is recorded from 1954.^[2][10] The nanny state, government that interferes too much in people's lives, is recorded by 1987 in Etymonline, which associates it with Margaret Thatcher's criticism of such policies;^[10] Word Origins dates the phrase from the 1950s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1700 – nanny-house, a brothel.^[10][13]
• 1703 – nanny goat.^[2]
• 1785 – a children's nurse.^[2][8]
• 1846 – a female goat.^[2]
• 1927 – a grandmother.^[2]
• 1954 – verb, to look after someone like a nanny; to be unduly protective of.^[2][10]
• 1959 – an unduly protective or interfering person or institution.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person, usually a woman, employed to look after a family's children; a nursemaid: The nanny took the twins to the park.^[12][8][2]
2. A child's word for a grandmother.^[12][2]
3. A person or institution regarded as overprotective or patronizing, treating adults like children, as in the nanny state.^[12][2]
4. A female goat; a nanny goat.^[2][12]

Verb

1. To be unduly protective of someone, or to look after someone as a nanny would.^[12][2]
2. To work as a nanny; to look after children.^[12][2]

Word family

• nannyish
• nanny goat

Related words

• nanna
• nana
• nan

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com