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{{Short description|Slang term for a novice or newcomer}}
{{Redirect2|Noob|Newb|other uses|Newbie (disambiguation)|and|Noob (disambiguation)|and|Newb (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}}

'''''Newbie'''''{{efn|Also '''''newb''''', '''''noob''''', '''''newby''''', '''''newbie''''', '''''newbee''''', '''''noobie''''', '''''n00b''''', '''''nub''''', and '''''nubie'''''.}} is a [[slang]] term for a [[wikt:novice|''novice'']], [[wikt:newcomer|''newcomer'']], or somebody inexperienced in a given profession or activity. In particular, it may refer to a new user of [[computer]]s, and often concerns [[Internet]] activity, such as [[Online game|online gaming]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/Masonry/Misc/welaish.html |title=MIT.edu |publisher=Web.mit.edu |access-date=July 9, 2012 |archive-date=July 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708225739/http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/Masonry/Misc/welaish.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> or [[Linux]] use.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linuxquestions.org/ |title=LinuxQuestions.org |publisher=LinuxQuestions.org |access-date=July 9, 2012 |archive-date=February 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207010101/https://www.linuxquestions.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ubuntuforums.org/ |title=Ubuntu Forums |publisher=Ubuntu Forums |access-date=July 9, 2012 |archive-date=May 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503233544/https://ubuntuforums.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The origin of this term is uncertain. Earliest uses probably date to late twentieth century [[United States Armed Forces]] [[Military slang|jargon]], though possible precursor terms date much earlier. The related term '''noob''' (often stylized as ''[[Leet#n00b|n00b]]'') is frequently used in online gaming.

==History==
The etymology of the term is uncertain. It may derive from "newie", which is attested in U.S. and Australian sources of the 1850s, meaning a neophyte in a place or situation; alternatively, it may derive from the British [[Independent school (UK)|public school]] slang "new boy" or "new blood", which is attributed to the same era and was applied to a schoolboy in his first term.<ref name="oed">"[http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00323814 newbie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327185742/https://public.oed.com/help/ |date=March 27, 2020 }}" ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd ed., 1989, ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, (subscription needed) March 8, 2010.</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, 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.<ref>Entry for ''newbie'' in John Robert Elting, Ernest L. Deal, and Dan Cragg, ''A Dictionary of Soldier Talk'', New York: [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]], 1984, p. 209. {{ISBN|0-684-17862-1}}</ref>

Another use of the term newbie was the moniker given to new U.S. Navy recruit students attending Basic Electricity and Electronics school by more senior students, a requisite course prior to enrollment in the A-school course at Naval Air Technical Training Center, [[Millington, Tennessee]].{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

The earliest appearance of the term on [[Internet|the Internet]] may have been on the [[Usenet newsgroup]] ''talk.bizarre''.<ref name="esr">{{cite web |title=Newbie |url=https://www.lysator.liu.se/hackdict/split2/newbie.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221112546/http://www.lysator.liu.se/hackdict/split2/newbie.html |archive-date=December 21, 2015 |access-date=July 17, 2024 |work=[[Jargon File|The Hacker's Dictionary]] |publisher=Lysator, the Academic Computer Society}}</ref> <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">By 1988, it had already entered online usage.</span><ref>{{cite newsgroup |title=Re: some (should-be) ground-rules for submissions to comp.binaries.* |author=Dyker, Barbara |date=May 31, 1988 |newsgroup=comp.sys.mac |url=http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.mac/msg/68659de9d2d8e42d?hl=en |access-date=May 5, 2009 |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927085309/http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.mac/msg/68659de9d2d8e42d?hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref>

Coming from an oral tradition, the term has various spellings. Among alternative forms are "newby", "nubie", and "newbee" (e.g. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' of August 1985: "It had to do with newbees. I could be wrong on the spelling, but newbies are the rookies among the [[Blue Angels]].").<ref name="oed"/>

In 2000, [[Electronic Arts]] released [[The Sims (video game)|The Sims]]. The game featured a tutorial house with a family called The Newbies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-longest-existing-families/|title=The Sims: The Longest Existing Families|work=[[TheGamer]]|publisher=[[Webtoon (platform)|Webtoon]]|date=January 21, 2020|author=Ericka Blye|access-date=March 25, 2021|archive-date=February 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227091840/https://www.thegamer.com/the-sims-longest-existing-families/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Connotations of variants==
Different spellings can have quite different connotations; so in some contexts a "newb" refers to a beginner who is willing to learn,<ref name=forbes/> while a "[[Leet#n00b|noob]]" refers disparagingly to an inexperienced or under-talented hacker or gamer who lacks the determination to learn.<ref name=forbes>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/words-online-gaming-opinions-books-newbs.html|title=Gamer Speak for Newbs|work=[[Forbes]]|author=Broek, Anna Vander|date=April 23, 2009|access-date=February 16, 2010|archive-date=April 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409134803/http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/words-online-gaming-opinions-books-newbs.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Similar terms in other languages==
* In [[Korean language|Korean]], the equivalent term is '''''[[:wikt:初步|chobo]]''''' or '''''hasu''''', the opposite of ''[[gosu]]'', meaning "highly skilled".{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
* In [[Chinese language|Chinese]], '''''[[:wikt:菜鳥|cainiao]]''''' ({{Lang-zh |t=菜鳥 |s=菜鸟 |p=càiniǎo |l=vegetable bird }}). It either originated from [[Hong Kong]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaonlineedu.com/tougao/special.asp?id=96 |language=zh-hans |author=都市汉子 |title=试论网络语言的基本特点上 |trans-title=On the Basic Characteristics of Internet Slangs |date=July 4, 2005 |access-date=October 31, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201120216/http://www.chinaonlineedu.com/tougao/special.asp?id=96 |archive-date=December 1, 2005}}</ref> or from the [[Republic of China Army|Taiwanese army]].{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} It became an [[Chinese Internet slang|Internet slang term used in the Chinese-speaking community]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Internet}}
* [[FNG syndrome|FNG]], another term for someone new to a unit used in the [[Vietnam War]]
* [[Luser]], a pejorative term for inexperienced computer users

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|newbie|noob|n00b|newb}}
* [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/newbie Merriam Webster on Newbie]

{{internet slang}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Beginners and newcomers]]
[[Category:Internet slang]]
[[Category:MUD terminology]]
[[Category:Video game culture]]