-nik Definition

nik
suffix
One associated with or characterized by.
Beatnik; peacenik.
American Heritage

Appended to words to create a nickname for a person who exemplifies, endorses, or is associated with the thing or quality specified (by the base form), often a particular ideology or preference.

Wiktionary
affix
One who is or has to do with (the thing specified)
Beatnik, refusenik.
Webster's New World

Origin of -nik

  • From the Slavic suffix (Russian: -ник (-nik)). This suffix experienced a surge in English coinages for nicknames and diminutives after the 1957 Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite. English usage is heavily influenced by Yiddish usage of -nik and similar borrowed words (nogoodnik, nudnik, kibbutznik).

    From Wiktionary

  • Yiddish Russian (Yiddish) (from Russian) of Slavic origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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