nudge – English noun declension

English noun forms of nudge

Noun: nudge
Singularnudge
Pluralnudges

Sample Sentences

  • give someone a nudge
  • Since the machine was showing two lemons and a cherry, I decided to try a nudge.
  • All this experimentation is yielding insights into which nudges give the biggest shove. One question is whether nudges can be designed to harness existing social norms. In Copenhagen Pelle Guldborg Hansen, founder of the Danish Nudging Network, a non-profit organisation, tested two potential “social nudges” in partnership with the local government, both using symbols to try to influence choices. [2012 March 24, “Nudge nudge, think think”, in The Economist:]
  • Manipulating behavior is old hat in the private sector, where advertisers and companies have been nudging consumers for decades. Just think of strategically placed chocolate bars at the checkout counter. But in public policy, nudge proponents study human behavior to try to figure out why people sometimes make choices that they themselves would consider poor. Then they test small changes in how those choices are presented, to see whether people can be steered toward better decisions — like putting apples, not chocolate bars, at eye level in school cafeterias. […] It is tricky to run perfectly controlled experiments in real-life situations, but proving the worth of nudges is a central principle of the program, Mr. Halpern said. [2013 December 7, Kathrin Bennhold, “Britain’s Ministry of Nudges”, in New York Times:]

Etymology

1. Circa 17th century, perhaps of North Germanic origin, related to Norwegian nugge, nyggje (“to push, rub, shove”), Icelandic nugga (“to rub, massage”), from the root of Proto-Germanic *hnōjaną (“to smooth, join together”), from Proto-Indo-European *kneh₂- (compare Ancient Greek κνάω (knáō, “to scratch, scrape”), source of English acnestis).
2. Compare also Scots nodge (“to push, poke, nudge”), knidge (“to push, squeeze”), gnidge (“to rub, press, squeeze, bruise”), and knudge (“to squeeze, press down with the knuckles”), Saterland Frisian Nukke, Nuk (“a sudden push”), Middle Low German nucke, nücke, gnücke (“a sudden push, shock, impetus”). Compare also dialectal nuch (“to tremble”), Middle English nuchen (“to tremble”). See: Icelandic Nouns 'nugga', English Nouns 'acnestis'.