Answer: Nerd is a descriptive term, often used pejoratively, indicating that a person is overly intellectual, obsessive, or lacking social skills. The word nerd was first used in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo, in which a nerd was one of the many oddly named creatures in the titular zoo. The slang meaning of the term dates to the next year, 1951, when Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for "drip" or "square" in Detroit, Michigan. By the early 1960s, usage of the term had spread throughout the United States, and even as far as Scotland.