nerf

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɜːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɝf/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f

Circa 1950s? (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

1. (motor racing, transitive) To bump lightly, whether accidentally or purposefully.

   A racer will often nerf another as a psychological tactic.

   • 1953, Henry Gregor Felsen, Street Rod, Random House, page 129:

     "The crazy fool!" Ricky exclaimed. "Nerfing me!"

• nerf bar
• nerf ball
• nerf net

From the Nerf brand of toys designed as non-dangerous counterparts of existing things, such as sports balls and guns. Originally used to equate a change in the damage of a weapon in a video game to a change from real weapons to Nerf weapons.

nerf (third-person singular simple present nerfs, present participle nerfing, simple past and past participle nerfed)

2. (transitive, slang, video games) To change a mechanic, an ability or a character in a video game in order to make a previously dominant strategy less viable or less effective.

   Synonym: gimp

   The lightning spell was originally pretty powerful, but in the sequel they nerfed it so it became completely useless.

4. (transitive, slang) To arbitrarily limit or reduce the capability of.
   • 2019 May 17, Fred Lambert, Electrek‎^[2], retrieved 19 May 2019:

     Tesla nerfs Autopilot in Europe due to new regulations

• debuff, worsen, deteriorate, cripple, declaw, defang, degenerate

• ameliorate, buff (game slang), improve, renew, renovate, revamp

• stealth nerf

nerf (plural nerfs)

2. (slang, video games) The deterioration, weakening or worsening of a character, a weapon, a spell, etc.

• Fern, fern, fren, fren'

• IPA^(key): /nɛrf/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nerf
• Rhymes: -ɛrf

From earlier nerve, from Middle Dutch *narwe, either inherited from Old Dutch *narwa or borrowed from Middle Low German narwe, eventually from Proto-Germanic *narwō, from earlier *arwaz (“scar”).^[1]

For the change of -rwe → -rf, compare verf. Cognate with German Narbe (“scar”).

nerf f (plural nerven, diminutive nerfje n)

1. grain of wood
2. (dated) a similar line in leather, paper, etc.

• Afrikaans: nerf

From Latin nervus. The botanic sense belongs historically to this word, but is semantically close to etymology 1 and hence not necessarily felt as a distinct word.

nerf f (plural nerven, diminutive nerfje n)

1. (obsolete) nerve

   Synonym: zenuw

2. (botany) vein of a leaf

Inherited from Middle French nerf, from Old French nerf, inherited from Latin nervus.

• IPA^(key): /nɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

nerf m (plural nerfs)

1. (anatomy) nerve
2. (figuratively) force, power, strength

   Les nerfs, les garçons! On n'est pas sur un bateau de plaisance. ― Put some muscle into it, boys! We are not on a pleasure boat!

• “nerf”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From Old French nerf.

nerf m (plural nerfz)

1. nerve

• French: nerf

From Latin nervus.

nerf oblique singular, m (oblique plural ners, nominative singular ners, nominative plural nerf)

1. nerve
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 185 of this essay:

     Donc lepre est maladie de chair et non pas du cueur, ne des os, de des nerfs etc.

     Therefore leprosy is a disease of the flesh and not of the heart, nor of the bones, nor of the nerves, etc.

• nerveus

• Middle French: nerf
  • French: nerf

Unadapted borrowing from English nerf.

• Homophone: nerfe

nerf m (plural nerfs)

1. (video games, slang) nerf (worsening of a game mechanic)

   Antonym: buff

   • 2016 July 22, Rodrigo Lima, “Top 5: Os personagens mais irritantes de se enfrentar em Overwatch”, in GameHall‎^[3], São Paulo: R7, archived from the original on 31 May 2025, 1) Torbjörn:

     Esse é o campeão! Mesmo com nerf nos consoles, os jogadores querem mais nerf. Nerf na torreta, nerf na mira da torreta, nerf no nerf da torreta! Até nerf no jogador, se for necessário!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Balanceamento de jogo § Nerf on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt

Borrowed from English nerve.

• IPA^(key): /nɛrv/

nerf f (plural nerfau, not mutable)

1. nerve

• nerfol
• nerfus