Etymologically
Log in

nod

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

English has a verb nod, of uncertain origin, with the noun formed from it, and a dialect noun nod, the nape of the neck, which is probably a shortening of noddle.[1][2]

Pronunciation

nod1 move the head

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nodden, of uncertain origin.[1][4][5][6][7] It is not found in Old English, and Etymonline thinks it probably existed there unrecorded;[4][8][9] the OED, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English compare Middle High German notten (“to move to and fro, shake”) and suggest a Low German origin.[1][10][11] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Old High German hnotōn (“to shake”) and Old Norse hnjóða (“to strike, rivet”),[12][2][8] from a Germanic verb Proto-Germanic *hnudōną,[12] and Barnhart refers them to Proto-Indo-European *kneudʰ-.[12] Etymonline thinks the word apparently unrelated to Latin nuō (“to nod”),[4] which Partridge took to be akin, with Ancient Greek νεύω (neúō, “to nod”).[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bow the head quickly, in greeting, agreement or command: about 1390, in Chaucer's Manciple's Tale,[1][12] in Barnhart's reading of the head drooping in drunkenness or sleepiness.[14][12]

Semantic evolution

Nodding as a sign of greeting or assent, and nodding from drowsiness, were both present early: the involuntary nod of a sleepy person is recorded from about 1425.[1] Weekley compares the link between nodding and dozing in French niquer (“to nod”) and German nicken.[9] The noun, a nod of the head, dates from 1541.[1][2] From 1567 it also meant a command given by a nod and so absolute power, as in Prior's line "nations obey my word, and wait my nod", which Johnson quoted.[1][15] The figurative sense "to make a slip through inattention" (1677) echoes Horace's remark that even good Homer sometimes nods, Latin dormitat Homerus.[1][4][9] The pun the land of Nod, sleep, after the biblical land east of Eden, is recorded from 1738 in Swift;[1][9] Etymonline dates it to 1731.[4] Of plants, nod means to bend and sway from 1578.[1] The phrase a nod and a wink is recorded from 1710, and the proverb a nod's as good as a wink (to a blind horse) from 1793.[1][16] In the 20th century the noun came to mean approval to go ahead (1924), a nomination for an award (1944), and an acknowledgement or allusion (1935).[1] American drug slang used it for the stupor of a narcotic, as a noun by 1937 and as a verb by 1958.[1][17][4] In northern English and Scots dialect to nod was simply to fall asleep, and noddy meant sleepy.[18]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – to bow the head.[1]
  • c. 1425 – to let the head drop when drowsy.[1]
  • 1541 – noun, a nod of the head.[1][2]
  • 1578 – of plants, to bend and sway.[1]
  • 1677 – to make a slip.[1]
  • 1684 – nod off.[1]
  • 1710 – a nod and a wink.[1]
  • 1738 – the land of Nod, sleep.[1]
  • 1924 – the nod, approval.[1]
  • 1937 – (US slang) a drugged stupor.[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To lower and raise the head briefly, as a sign of agreement, greeting or command, or to point something out: She nodded towards the door.
  2. To express or show something by nodding: He nodded his thanks.
  3. To let the head fall forward when drowsy, to doze, or with off, to fall asleep.
  4. To make a small mistake through a lapse of attention.
  5. Of flowers, trees and the like, to bend and sway.
  6. (football) To head the ball gently.

Noun

  1. A quick downward movement of the head: He gave a nod of recognition.
  2. the nod: approval or permission to go ahead.
  3. A brief acknowledgement of or allusion to something.
  4. (slang) A drowsy state caused by narcotic drugs, as in on the nod.

Word family

  • nodder
  • nodding
  • nod off
  • land of Nod

nod2 nape

Etymology

It is probably a shortening of noddle (“the back of the head”),[1][2] and Merriam-Webster calls it a back-formation from that word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The nape of the neck: 1695, in White Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, on Kent dialect.[1][18]

Semantic evolution

Wright's English Dialect Dictionary records the word in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, as in a Sussex speaker's "it catched me right across the nod of my neck".[18]

Timeline

  • 1695 – the nape of the neck.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (dialect, England) The nape of the neck.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  14. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ a b c 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)