Phrase guide

pet name

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nickname, especially a name used by those in love with one another.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • My boyfriend won't let me call him by his pet name, Pookie, in public.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hypocorism, nickname

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pet, name.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a name of endearment (especially one using a diminutive suffix)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • `Billy' is a hypocorism for `William'

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hypocorism

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: name

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: галено име (galeno ime) — name of endearment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 愛稱 /爱称 (àichēng) — name of endearment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 昵稱 (nìchēng) — name of endearment
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小名 (xiǎomíng) — name of endearment
  • Danish: kælenavn — name of endearment
  • Dutch: koosnaam — name of endearment
  • Dutch: troetelnaam — name of endearment
  • Dutch: vleinaam — name of endearment
  • Esperanto: karesnomo — name of endearment
  • Finnish: lempinimi — name of endearment
  • Finnish: kutsumanimi — name of endearment
  • French: petit nom — name of endearment
  • Georgian: საალერსო სახელი (saalerso saxeli) — name of endearment
  • Georgian: კნინობითი სახელი (ḳninobiti saxeli) — name of endearment
  • German: Kosename — name of endearment
  • German: Lallname — name of endearment
  • Ancient Greek: ὑποκόρισμα (hupokórisma) — name of endearment
  • Ancient Greek: ὑποκοριστικόν (hupokoristikón) — name of endearment
  • Gujarati: ઘરનું નામ (gharnũ nām) — name of endearment
  • Japanese: 愛称 (aishō) — name of endearment
  • Japanese: ペットネーム (pettonēmu) — name of endearment
  • Macedonian: нагалено име (nagaleno ime) — name of endearment
  • Malay: nama timang-timangan — name of endearment
  • Malay: nama manja — name of endearment
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kallenavn — name of endearment
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjælenavn — name of endearment
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kallenamn — name of endearment
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kjælenamn — name of endearment
  • Polish: pieszczotliwe przezwisko — name of endearment
  • Russian: ласка́тельное и́мя (laskátelʹnoje ímja) — name of endearment
  • Russian: уменьши́тельное и́мя (umenʹšítelʹnoje ímja) — name of endearment
  • Swedish: smeknamn — name of endearment