We have a look at the origins of the word nonce, where it comes from and what it means, after a number of celebrities were convicted of sex offences
2026 is shaping up to be remembered as the year of the ‘nonce’. This year a number of big name celebs have been charged and convicted of sex offences.
They include the likes of Russell Brand, ex-Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein and snooker star Graeme Dott.
While not facing any charges in relation to minors, Brand was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison for one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against four women this week.
However, a number of high-profile names have been charged with crimes involving children. Earlier this year, Graeme Dott, the former world snooker champion, was jailed for seven years after being convicted of sexually abusing two children, a boy and a girl.
And former BBC presenter Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children in 2024.
But what does the word nonce really mean, and where did it actually come from?
It is most commonly known as the British slang for paedophile. However, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, the correct definition of a nonce is someone who “commits a crime involving sex, especially sex with a child”.
The word is believed to have started out in the 1970s as prison slang for sexual offenders who had to be kept separate from other inmates for their own safety.
The birthplace of the word nonce is thought to be HMP Wakefield, the West Yorkshire nick dubbed Monster Mansion, and known for housing some of the most evil criminals in Britain.
Classed as a category A prison, its inmates include serial killers and convicted child sex offenders. Some of the most notorious occupants have included ‘Dr Death’, Harold Shipman, and Ian Huntley, ‘The Soham Murderer’.
The urban myth is that the term nonce is actually an acronym, standing for Not On Normal Courtyard Exercise.
Supposedly, it would be written on inmates’ cell cards to identify criminals charged with crimes so serious they were not allowed to mix with other offenders.
In recent years, however, the term has become part of everyday language. and is often used in film and TV shows.
This includes award winning TV show Adolescence. In the final episode of the show, Eddie Miller, whose son Jamie is accused of killing a young girl, finds the slang word spray-painted on his van.
And in the hit show The Inbetweeners, the term nonce is used throughout the series by many of the different characters as an insult.