surname

CEFRA1

/ˈsɜːˌneɪm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A family name shared by members of a family.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Synonym of epithet, an additional name, particularly those derived from a birthplace, quality, or achievement.

Examples

  • How do you spell your surname?

  • How is your surname written?

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Synonym of nickname, an additional name given to a person, place, or thing, a byname.

  2. The portion of a person's name that is generally hereditary or treated as an indicator of a person's family, which may be shared with other members of the family, or otherwise derived from their names in some fashion; distinguished from that person's given name(s).

  3. The cognomen of Roman names.

More examples

In context

  • James is my first name, and Smith is my surname.

  • My surname is Zhou.

  • In late yeeres Surnames have beene given for Christian names among vs, and no where else in Christendom.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In many traditional cultures, children inherit their father's blank at birth.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Inherited from Middle English surname, a partial calque of Old French surnum, surnoun (“surname; nickname”) (whence Middle English surnoun), from Late Latin supernōmen, suprānōmen (“surname”), from super- (“over, above, beyond”) and nōmen (“name”), equivalent to sur- + name.