Definition of 'surname'
Word forms: plural surnames
countable noun
Your surname is the name that you share with other members of your family. In English-speaking countries and many other countries it is your last name.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
surname in British English
noun
2.
(formerly) a descriptive epithet attached to a person's name to denote a personal characteristic, profession, etc; nickname
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
surnamer (ˈsurˌnamer) noun
Word origin
C14: via Anglo-French from Old French surnom. See sur-1, nameWord Frequency
surname in American English
noun
1.
the family name, or last name, as distinguished from a given name
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word Frequency
surname in American English
(noun ˈsɜːrˌneim, verb ˈsɜːrˌneim, sɜːrˈneim) (verb -named, -naming)
noun
1.
the name that a person has in common with other family members, as distinguished from a given name or Christian name;
family name
2.
a name added to a person's name, as one indicating a circumstance of birth or some characteristic or achievement; epithet
transitive verb
3.
to give a surname to; call by a surname
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Examples of 'surname' in a sentence
surname
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In other languages
surname
British English: surname
/ˈsɜːˌneɪm/ NOUN
Your surname is the name that you share with other members of your family.
She didn't know his surname, only his first name.
- American English: family name /ˈfæməli ˌneɪm/
- Arabic: لَقَب
- Brazilian Portuguese: sobrenome
- Chinese: 姓氏
- Croatian: prezime
- Czech: příjmení
- Danish: efternavn
- Dutch: achternaam
- European Spanish: apellido
- Finnish: sukunimi
- French: nom de famille
- German: Nachname
- Greek: επίθετο
- Italian: cognome
- Japanese: 姓
- Korean: 성
- Norwegian: etternavn
- Polish: nazwisko
- European Portuguese: apelido
- Romanian: nume de familie
- Russian: фамилия
- Latin American Spanish: apellido
- Swedish: efternamn
- Thai: นามสกุล
- Turkish: soyadı
- Ukrainian: прізвище
- Vietnamese: họ tên
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Definition of surname from the Collins English Dictionary
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