Meanings
nina1
plural ninas · alternative Nina
- crosswordingA hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
Other “personal” ninas are happier and subtler: birthday wishes to loved ones, which, ultimately, have only one intended reader
2014, Alan Connor, The Crossword Century: 100 Years of Witty Wordplay, Ingenious Puzzles, and Linguistic Mischief, Penguin, →ISBN2 more examples
The puzzle itself was fairly easy however there was an elegant nina based on the middle entry (INSIDE STORY) in which each of the across answers hid a synonym of "story", e.g. 5A and 6A were: STABle gendER.
2008 April 1, Ilan Caron, “Guardian Cryptic Crossword No. 24350 set by Brendan”, in rec.puzzles.crosswords (Usenet)Ninas may or may not be present and, even if one is there, it can go unnoticed because, not being intrinsic to the solution, its presence is not advertised—or because it is so well hidden.
2014 August 10, Brian Bethune, “The crossword’s meandering 100-year journey”, in Maclean's
Nina2
- A female given name in continuous use since the 19th century.
1 more example
The first three, Macklin, Lydia, and Randall, were the special ones. Even those names, we thought, showed greater imagination, greater involvement on our parents' part, than ours did: Nina, Mary, Sarah. Clearly by that time they had run out of gas. "Nina. Such a pretty, old-fashioned name. I hope you don't mind my saying that." "No; I'm glad you think so."
1990, Sue Miller, Family Pictures, Harper & Row, →ISBN, pages 5, 25 - The Babylonian goddess of the watery deep, daughter of Ea.
- abbreviationellipsisdiceEllipsis of Nina from Pasadena.
plural Ninas
- crosswordingAlternative letter-case form of nina (“a hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword”).
Ninas are also a way for setters to flex their muscles.
2013, Alan Connor, Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword
NINA3
NINA4
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
nina · noun
From the name Nina, taken from the cartoonist Al Hirschfeld's habit of hiding his daughter Nina's name in his drawings.
Full word history & related roots →Nina · proper noun, noun
- RussianНи́на
- EnglishNina
Borrowed into English in the nineteenth century, apparently from several sources. Many borrowings are of Russian Ни́на (Nína), the name of a Georgian saint in the fourth century, also known as Nino, of obscure origin and meaning, possibly connected with the Assyrian king Ninus. Others are of an Italian short form of diminutives like Annina from Anna and Giovannina from Giovanna. Phonologically or orthographically similar names are present in several languages, including Afrikaans, Hindi, Italian, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and some Native American languages. In many of those, it is a nickname for names ending in -ina or -nina. (hidden message in crossword): After Nina Hirschfeld, the daughter of the American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld; her name was often concealed in his drawings.
More words from Russian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Danish Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Finnish Niina, Nina
- Niinafemale given name
- Ninafemale given name
French Nina
- Ninafemale given name
German Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Greek Νίνα
- Νίνα (Nína)female given name
Italian Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Latvian Ņina
- Ņinafemale given name
Norwegian Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Polish Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Portuguese Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Russian Ни́на
- Ни́на (Nína)female given name
Swedish Nina
- Ninafemale given name
Ukrainian Ніна
- Нінаfemale given name
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with nina
Anagrams
Cite this entry
nina. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nina
“nina.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nina. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nina,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nina.
Source: nina on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.