Nicknamish

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the playful, informal quality of a nickname, like a casual name given in place of a real one
2. Resembling a nickname in style, especially in being short, familiar, or affectionately teasing
3. Of a kind that sounds like a nickname, informal and fond rather than formal or official

Etymology: Nickname began as "an eke name." "Eke" is an Old English word meaning "also" or "in addition," so an eke name was a second name given on top of a person's real one. Speakers then heard "an eke name" as "a nekename," and the "n" slid from the article onto the noun, giving us "nickname." The mishearing is the real twist: English moved a grammatical boundary and kept the result. The suffix -ish comes from Old English "-isc," a Germanic ending meaning "belonging to" or "having the quality of," as in "Danish" or "childish." Attached to a noun, it means "somewhat like" or "in the manner of." Something nicknamish behaves like a nickname without quite being one: a playful, informal label that sticks.