beatnik

American  

[beet-nik] / ˈbit nɪk /

noun

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a member of the Beat Generation.

2. a person who rejects or avoids conventional behavior, dress, etc.

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beatnik British  

/ ˈbiːtnɪk /

noun

1. a member of the Beat Generation (sense 1)

2. informal any person with long hair and shabby clothes

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Etymology

Origin of beatnik

1955–60, beat (adj.) (as in Beat Generation ) + -nik

Compare meaning

How does beatnik compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• beatnik vs. hippie

Explanation

In the 1950s and early 1960s, a young person who wore a black turtleneck and a beret while playing the bongos would probably be called a beatnik. Beatniks were a youthful subculture that was influenced by jazz music and Beat poets and writers, like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. This unconventional group rejected the status quo of "normal" society, preferring to express themselves artistically. A newspaper columnist coined the term beatnik in 1958, influenced by the Sputnik satellite that had been launched the year before.

Example Sentences

He’s put off by Ginsberg’s aggressiveness, though the aging beatnik softens somewhat when he realizes Hujar isn’t an emissary of the enemy so much as a photographer picking up work where he can get it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

Finally, there is Georgia McCann, a self-styled Gen Z beatnik and events planner whose special talents include throwing parties for Anna Delvey and not washing her hands after she pees.

From Salon • Aug. 2, 2025

How could this crazy beatnik character be Disney?

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2024

A musician before he’d become an actor, Mr. Rado began writing songs with Mr. Ragni, which they sometimes sang in what were then beatnik coffee houses in Greenwich Village.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

If they’d been around since beatnik times, they must be strong, he thought.

From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar