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nancy

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nancy¹

  • /ˈnænsi/

Rhymes with -ænsi

Where it comes from

From Nancy, pet form of the female given names Agnes and Anne, under influence from earlier nan (“serving girl, maid; male homosexual”), itself from Nan, another pet form of the same names. Compare Mary.

noun nancies · nancys · Nancy

  1. Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, US, derogatory An effeminate man, especially a homosexual. The wonderful Stephen Tobolowsky returns as Sandy [Ryerson], the flaming former glee club director who’s now the shop teacher, and warns that “you are going to have a school full of nancys unless you get some hot wood in those teenagers’ hands.”

    Similar: mama's boy, pansy, sissy, omi-palone, friend of Dorothy

Nancy²

  • /ˈnænsi/
  • [ˈnɛənsi]

Rhymes with -ænsi

Where it comes from

Medieval diminutive of Ann and Agnes. Compare Betsy, Patsy.

proper noun Nancys · Nancies

  1. A female given name. I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy, Naething could resist my Nancy: But to see her was to love her; Love but her, and love forever.

noun Nancies · Nancys

  1. Alternative letter-case form of nancy HAWKER, the Australian, who is to handle the Sopwith plane, predicts that any fast steamer out of New York will have no difficulty in beating the “Nancies” of the United States Navy.

Nancy³

  • /ˈnænsi/
  • [ˈnɛənsi]

Rhymes with -ænsi

Where it comes from

From French Nancy, from Medieval Latin Nanciacum, from Old High German Nanzig.

proper noun

  1. A city in Meurthe-et-Moselle department, Grand Est, north-eastern France.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: sienna, rome, siena, hamburg, barcelona, carole, nance, whittier, villarreal, almeria, cristina, maría, nancie, cathy, valerie, cheryl

Translations

Every language

name female given name

한국어낸시 Naensi
日本語ナンシー Nanshī
中文南希 Nánxī, 南茜 Nánxī
FrançaisNancy
ΕλληνικάΝάνσι Nánsi
РусскийНэ́нси Nɛ́nsi
العربيةنَانْسِي nānsī

name city in northeastern France

中文南錫 /南锡 Nánxī
FrançaisNancy
DeutschNanzig
ΕλληνικάΝανσί Nansí
РусскийНанси́ Nansí

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Cite this
MLA

"nancy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nancy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

nancy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nancy

Chicago

"nancy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nancy.

BibTeX
@misc{nancy_2026,
  title = {nancy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nancy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}