nib

Etymology

It is apparently a variant of neb, a bird's beak;^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Barnhart calls it originally a Scottish form;^[3][4] neb itself is inherited from Old English nebb (“beak, nose, face”),^[4][8][3] from Proto-Germanic *nabją (“beak, nose”).^[4][9][10] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the ODE think it was probably taken from Middle Dutch nib or Middle Low German nibbe, a variant of nebbe (“beak”),^[11][12][13] and the OED points to forms with -i- in other Germanic languages.^[2] Etymonline suggests influence from nibble.^[4] The Germanic word has cognates in Old Norse nef (“nose, beak”) and Middle Dutch nebbe,^[9][3][2] and, with an initial s-, in Old High German snabul and German Schnabel (“beak”);^[3][4][14] the OED traces it to the same Indo-European base as Lithuanian snapas (“beak”),^[2] while Kroonen finds no clear cognates outside Germanic.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The tapered point of a pen: 1583, in C. Hollyband's Campo di Fior, in the OED,^[2] and 1583 for the pen sense in Merriam-Webster.^[15] Barnhart and Etymonline instead date the sense "beak, bill" to 1585 and the pen sense to 1611.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a form of neb, beak, and spread to other pointed things.^[3][2] The point of a quill pen was the main sense from the start;^[2][16] from 1837 it was also a separate metal point fitted into a penholder; from 1840 it also meant either half of a split pen point.^[2] The sense "beak, bill", recorded from 1585, is now chiefly Scottish,^[2][12] and in dialect it was used humorously for the human nose or face.^[17] Johnson (1755) gave "the bill or beak of a bird" first and "the point of any thing, generally of a pen" second.^[18] From 1713 nib meant any point or tip;^[2] English and American dialects used nibs from 1656 for the two short handles on the shaft of a scythe.^[2][11] The plural nibs for crushed cocoa beans dates from the 19th century.^[11][19] The verb, to fit a pen with a nib or to mend its point, followed in 1752.^[2]

Timeline

• 1583 – the point of a pen.^[2][15] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1611.^[3][4]
• 1585 – a bird's beak or bill.^[2][3]
• 1656 – one of the two handles on a scythe shaft.^[2]
• 1713 – a point or tip of anything.^[2]
• 1752 – verb, to provide a pen with a nib.^[2]
• 1837 – a separate pen point for a holder.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The writing point of a pen, especially a tapered metal piece with a split tip: This fountain pen has a gold nib.^[19][15][2]
2. A point or tip of anything; a small projecting part.^[19][15][2]
3. (chiefly Scottish) A beak or bill; also, a person's nose.^[2][12][15]
4. (in the plural) Crushed cocoa beans.^[19][11]

Verb

1. To fit a pen with a nib, or to shape or mend its point.^[19][15][2]

Word family

• niblike

Related words

• neb
• nibble
• nub

Usage notes

A separate slang nib, a gentleman or a person of consequence (1812), is probably a variant of nob;^{[20][6][16][2]} it survives in the jocular his nibs, earlier his nabs.^[16]

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 v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
11. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
15. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
19. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com