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Etymology and origin of the English word nudge

Pronunciation

nudge1 push gently

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1675 Hobbes's translation of the Odyssey

Etymology

The verb meaning to push gently is of uncertain origin.[2][3][4][5] Barnhart and Etymonline suggest a Scandinavian source,[6][7][8][9] comparing Norwegian nugge and nyggje (“to jostle, rub”), Icelandic nugga (“to rub, massage”)[6][7][3][10] and Swedish gnaga (“to nibble”), the relative of gnaw;[6] Merriam-Webster compares Old Norse gnaga (“to gnaw”).[8] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford add that the word may have been in use long before its first record,[3][5] and Partridge thought it perhaps ultimately echoic.[11] The OED compares nug and gnidge,[2] and Dictionary.com takes it as a variant of the dialect verb knidge, akin to Old English cnucian (“to knock”).[12] Weekley also thought it perhaps related to knock.[13] Liberman places it among many expressive words of the shape n + short vowel + stop that name quick, light, repeated movements, such as nibble, nod and nag, and suggests it may be a variant of the 17th-century nud (“to push with the head”), the final consonant giving it an expressive character as in jab, jolt and budge; he also allows an unrecorded Old English source.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To push someone gently, especially with the elbow: 1675, in Hobbes's translation of the Odyssey.[2][6] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a gentle push, is first recorded in 1699, in Farquhar;[2] Etymonline dates it to 1787 and Barnhart to 1836, in Marryat.[7][6] The figurative sense, a hint or signal given as if by a covert touch, is found by 1831,[7] and the OED's first figurative verb is from Carlyle (1850).[2] In the 20th century the verb came to mean moving up gradually, especially of prices and figures (1925), and coming close to a figure or age (1949).[2] Australian slang had nudge the turps or give it a nudge for drinking to excess (1966).[2][15] The catchphrase nudge, nudge (wink, wink) comes from the British television comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).[2] Since Thaler and Sunstein's book Nudge (2008), the noun has also named a small change in the way choices are presented that steers people's behaviour.[2] In Scottish, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lincolnshire dialect a nudge was a slight push, and in Cheshire also a hint.[16]

Timeline

  • 1675 – to push gently, especially with the elbow.[2][6]
  • 1699 – noun, a gentle push or prod.[2] Etymonline dates the noun to 1787 and Barnhart to 1836.[7][6]
  • 1809 – intransitive, to give a gentle push.[2]
  • 1831 – a hint or signal given as if by a touch.[7] The OED dates the figurative verb to 1850.[2]
  • 1925 – to move up gradually, especially of a price or figure.[2]
  • 1949 – to come close to a figure or age.[2]
  • 1966 – Australian slang, to drink to excess.[2]
  • 1969 – the catchphrase nudge, nudge (wink, wink).[2]
  • 2008 – a design that steers behaviour, in sociology and psychology.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To push or poke someone gently, especially with the elbow, to attract attention: She nudged her brother when the waiter arrived.[8][9][2]
  2. To push something slowly or lightly: The tug nudged the barge toward the pier.[9][2]
  3. To prompt, encourage or steer someone gently: They nudged him into applying for the job.[9][8][2]
  4. To move up or forward gradually: Prices nudged higher over the summer.[2]
  5. To come close to a figure or age: Her father is nudging ninety.[2]

Noun

  1. A gentle push or poke.[9][8][2]
  2. A gentle reminder or hint.[9][2]
  3. (sociology, psychology) A small change in the way choices are presented, meant to steer behaviour.[2]

Word family

  • nudger

nudge2 nag, pester

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1952 Miami Daily News, as noodge
Borrowed from
Yiddish נודיען
Ultimate origin
Polish nudzić

Etymology

The word for a nag or pest is borrowed from Yiddish נודיען (nudyen, “to bore, pester”),[2][8][17][12] from Polish nudzić (“to bore, weary”)[2][8][17][12] or from a Russian verb meaning to wear out with complaints or questions.[2][17] Merriam-Webster relates the Polish verb to nuda (“boredom”),[8] and the American Heritage Dictionary to Old English nēod (“distress, need”), that is need.[17] In English the verb noodge came first and the noun was formed from it; in the spelling nudge the word was remodelled on the older verb meaning to push.[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com relate it to nudnik.[7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pester or nag: 1952, in the spelling noodge, in the Miami Daily News.[2] Dictionary.com dates the word much earlier, to 1875–80.[12]

Semantic evolution

The verb could also be intransitive, to whine or complain persistently, and the OED compares a Russian verb meaning to moan or complain.[2] The noun, a person who nags or complains, is recorded in 1967–8 as noodge, also nudge,[15] and in 1968 in Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish;[2][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1960s.[7] Green's Dictionary of Slang marks it as American and quotes a 1972 complaint about an author: "He’s not a writer, he’s a nudge."[15]

Timeline

  • 1952 – verb, to pester or nag (as noodge).[2]
  • 1967 – noun, a nagging or annoying person, spelt noodge or nudge.[15] The OED and Merriam-Webster date the noun to 1968.[2][8]
  • 1971 – verb, to bother or irritate (as nudgy).[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (US, informal) A person who nags or complains persistently; a pest.[8][2][15]

Verb

  1. (US, informal) To pester or nag: He kept nudging me about the overdue report.[2][8][15]

Usage notes

The nagging nudge is pronounced /nʊdʒ/, with the vowel of book, and is also spelt noodge or nudzh;[2][8] the verb meaning to push is /nʌdʒ/.[2]

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 x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  12. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nudge.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/nudge. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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