Newbie (also said as nooby or newby) is a slang term for a newcomer to online gaming or an Internet activity. It can also be used for any other activity in whose context a somewhat clueless newcomer could exist. It can have derogatory connotations, but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without a value judgement.

History

The word newbie is a variant of 'new boy' and comes from British public school and military slang.

Before it entered popular discourse by way of the Internet, the term "newbie" had a limited usage among U.S. troops in the Vietnam War as a slang term for a new man in a unit.

Its earliest known usage on the Internet may have been on the USENET newsgroup talk.bizarre, and was certainly in use by 1981

Variants

Coming from an oral tradition, the initial usage written either "newbie" or "newbee" (eg Los Angeles Times of August 1985: "It had to do with newbees. I could be wrong on the spelling, but newbees are the rookies among the Blue Angels...").

In internet usage the spelling "newbie" has been the norm, with some use of the shortened form "newb" (or "noob").

See also

• FNG, another term for someone new to a unit used in the Vietnam War.

References

External links

• Newbie.org
• http://www.refdesk.com/factbeg.html
• Merriam Webster on Newbie