-nik
a suffix of nouns that refer, usually derogatorily, to persons who support or are concerned or -ssociated with a particular political cause or group, cultural att-tude, or the like:
beatnik, filmnik; no-goodnik; peacenik.
-nik
suffix
denoting a person -ssociated with a specified state, belief, or quality beatnik, refusenik
word origin
c20: from russian -nik, as in sputnik, and influenced by yiddish -nik (agent suffix)
-nik
as in beatnik, etc., suffix used in word formation from c.1945, from yiddish -nik (cf. nudnik “a bore”), from rus. -nik, common personal suffix meaning “person or thing -ssociated with or involved in” (cf. kolkhoznik “member of a kolkhoz”). rocketed to popularity with sputnik (q.v.).
-nik
suffix
used to form nouns a person involved in, described by, or doing what is indicated: beatnik/ computernik/ peacenik/ no-goodnik
[1940s+; fr yiddish fr russian and other slavic languages]
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