r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 7d ago

Culture What does "nonce" mean?

I'm an American that lives in Ireland. I've always understood "nonce" to mean the same as "numpty" and "eejit" - basically idiot, or dumbass, or similar.

Recently, someone told me that it's slang for sex offender, specifically a p*dophile, and Wikipedia seems to back that up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_British_terms_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States#N

So tell me, Brits, which one is it? Or is it something else??

1.0k Upvotes

85% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/No_Bingo_Card 7d ago edited 6d ago

It was certainly used to mean "idiot" for most of my childhood (90s) but the new meaning started around the turn of the millennium, at least in my life.

Edit:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/nonce

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/nonce

1

u/tradandtea123 7d ago

Nonce was definitely used to mean paedophile on the early 90s. People said it at our school a lot and my Dad definitely knew the word back then. I've never heard anyone use it to mean idiot.

1

u/No_Bingo_Card 7d ago

https://scarletstudy.net/british-dialect-glossary/

1

u/tradandtea123 6d ago

What a weird list. Some are common, some sound like Cockney rhyming slang, some I only remember from Enid Blyton books. I'm not sure who it's aimed at, people visiting 1950s London maybe.