nudnik

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Yiddish נודניק (nudnik) < root of נודיען (nudyen, to bore) + ־ניק (-nik, noun-forming suffix) (English -nik). Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *nuda < Proto-Indo-European *newti- (need) < *new- (death, to be exhausted).

Compare Russian ну́дный (núdnyj, tedious), Ukrainian нудни́й (nudnýj, tedious), Polish nudny (boring), Slovak nudný (boring), Old Church Slavonic ноудити (nuditi) or нѫдити (nǫditi, to compel), Hebrew נוּדְנִיק (nag).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈnʊdnɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʊdnɪk

Noun

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nudnik (plural nudniks)

  1. (US, colloquial, sometimes attributive) A person who is very annoying; a pest, a nag, a jerk. [from 20th c.]
    • 1992, Richard Preston quoting Samuel Eilenberg, The New Yorker, 2 March, "The Mountains of Pi":
      He interrupts people, and he is not interested in anything except what concerns him and his brother. He is a nudnick!
    • 1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 15:
      Juliana greeted strangers with a portentous, nudnik, Mona Lisa smile that hung them up between responses, whether to say hello or not.
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Anagrams

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