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OneKitly

newbie

nounattested in dialogue

  • //ˈnjuːbi//
  • //ˈnuːbi//

A newcomer, someone new to something.

noun

  1. 1

    slangA newcomer, someone new to something.

    He was a newbie to chemistry.

    We’ve included some other acts you already know so you’ll get a feel for what the newbies sound like.

    If you’re starting off skinny, you can probably get newbie gains for several months.

  2. 2

    A new user or participant; someone who is extremely new and inexperienced (to a game or activity). A beginner.

  3. 3

    slangAnything recently introduced into a setting, especially something that replaces an older version.

    If you find that you would prefer using the new printer most of the time, while using the original only when needed, you can make the newbie the default printer for your system.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nu Proto-Indo-European *néwos Proto-Germanic *niwjaz Proto-West Germanic *niwi Old English nīewe Middle English newe English new Proto-Germanic *-j-, *-ij- Proto-West Germanic *-i, *-ī Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English -ie English newieder.? ▲ English new Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-der. Proto-Germanic *buranaz Proto-West Germanic *boran Old English boren, ġeboren Middle English born, boren, borne, iborne English born English newborn Proto-Indo-European *bʰā- Proto-Germanic *bō-redup. Proto-Germanic *babô Proto-West Germanic *babō Old English *baba Middle English babe Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y Middle English baby English baby blend? ▲ English newder.? ▲ Proto-Germanic *bō- Proto-West Germanic *bōjō Old English *bōia Middle English boye English boyder.? English newbie Uncertain — perhaps an alteration of newie with intrusive b (compare freebie); possibly a blend of newborn + baby; or perhaps a shortening of new boy or new beginner.

Forms

plural
newbies
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).