nomadic

English

Alternative forms

• nomadick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νομαδικός (nomadikós), equivalent to nomad (“a member of a society or class of herdsmen”) +‎ -ic (forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nəʊˈmæd.ɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /noʊˈmæd.ɪk/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /nəʉˈmæd.ɪk/, /nɐʉˈmæd.ɪk/
• Rhymes: -ædɪk

Adjective

nomadic (comparative more nomadic, superlative most nomadic)

1. Of or relating to nomads.
   1. (anthropology) Of or related to itinerant herdsmen.
      • 2024 December 19, Amy Gunia, “Young Uzbeks are finding new markets for traditional handicrafts online”, in CNN Business‎:

        For centuries, the nomadic tribes of Central Asia used colorful textiles called suzanis as seating, prayer mats, bedding and dividers in their yurts – the traditional tents that were their homes.

   2. (figuratively) Of or related to any habitually wandering person or animal.
      • 2013 January 1, Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore, “Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 5 March 2016, pages 47–48:

        Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus) undergo an irregular, nomadic type of nocturnal migration.

      • 2022 September 7, Tom Allett, “At the cutting edge of NR's track work”, in RAIL, number 965, page 40:

        Neither vehicle has a set home base. Young explains: "They are 'nomadic' nationally employed assets that, rather than having a regular home depot, are generally deployed and maintained following a programme of works across the full network.

Synonyms

• (all): nomad
• (of or related to itinerant herdsmen): pastoral
• (habitually wandering): wandering, peripatetic, itinerant, itinerate, unsettled, vagabond, roving, drifting, roaming, wayfaring, vagrant, transient, rambling, peregrine, ambulatory, ambulant, erratic, errant, rootless, gypsy, floating, perambulatory, perambulant, discursive, meandering, ambling, footloose, prodigal

Derived terms

• nomadically
• nomadic furniture
• nomadicity
• nonnomadic
• seminomadic
• unnomadic

Translations

of or relating to itinerant herdsmen

Arabic: بَدَوِيّ (ar) m (badawiyy) Armenian: քոչվորական (hy) (kʻočʻvorakan) Azerbaijani: köçəri Belarusian: качавы́ (kačavý), вандро́ўны (be) (vandrówny), качэ́ўны (kačéwny), качэ́ўніцкі (kačéwnicki) Bulgarian: нома́дски (nomádski) Catalan: nòmada (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 游牧 (zh) (yóumù) Czech: nomádský, kočovný (cs) Danish: nomadisk Dutch: nomadisch (nl) Esperanto: nomada Finnish: paimentolais- (fi) French: nomade (fr) Galician: nómade German: nomadisch (de), Nomaden- (de) Hungarian: nomád (hu) Italian: nomade (it) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کۆچەری (koçerî) Lithuanian: klajokliškas Macedonian: номадски (nomadski) Mongolian: Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: nomadisk Nynorsk: nomadisk Old English: simelfarende Polish: koczowniczy (pl), wędrowny (pl), nomadyczny (pl) Portuguese: nómada (pt) (Portugal), nômade (pt) (Brazil), nomádico Russian: кочево́й (ru) (kočevój), коче́внический (ru) (kočévničeskij) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: но̀мадскӣ Roman: nòmadskī (sh) Slovak: nomádsky, kočovný, kočovnícky Slovene: nomadski Spanish: nómada (es), nómade Tibetan: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: кочови́й (kočovýj), мандрі́вний (mandrívnyj), мандрівни́й (mandrivnýj), кочівни́й (kočivnýj), кочівни́цький (kočivnýcʹkyj)

of or relating to any habitually wandering person

Arabic: جَوَّال (ar) m (jawwāl), رَحَّال m (raḥḥāl), مُتَنَقِّل m (mutanaqqil) Bulgarian: ски́тнически (bg) (skítničeski) Catalan: nòmada (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: nomádský, kočovný (cs) Finnish: kiertelevä (fi), liikkuva (fi) French: nomade (fr) German: nomadisch (de) Maori: kānekeneke, kōkewa Polish: koczowniczy (pl), nomadyczny (pl) Portuguese: nómada (pt) (Portugal), nômade (pt) (Brazil), nomádico Russian: кочево́й (ru) (kočevój), кочу́ющий (ru) (kočújuščij) Spanish: nómada (es), nómade, nomádico

Anagrams

• monacid, mandioc, monadic, Modican, coadmin