overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

maniac.

An insane person, especially one who suffers from a mania.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmeɪ.niˌæk/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An insane person, especially one who suffers from a mania.

    She was driving like a maniac.
  2. A fanatic, a person with an obsession.

    figuratively
    He's a manga maniac.
  3. Ellipsis of sex maniac.

    Philippines · abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *mn̥yétorder. Proto-Hellenic *məňňómai Ancient Greek μαίνομαι (maínomai) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ f (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek μᾰνῐ́ᾱ (mănĭ́ā) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ᾰκός (-ăkós) Ancient Greek μανιακός (maniakós)bor. Late Latin maniacuslbor. French maniaquebor. English maniac From mania + -ac. Borrowed from French maniaque, from Late Latin maniacus, from Ancient Greek μανιακός (maniakós), adjectival form of μανία (manía, “madness”). Compare manic.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

maniac has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

maniac studiomaniac workshello, maniac

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.