Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

nudnik

[noo d-nik]
See more synonyms for nudnik on Thesaurus.com
noun Slang.
  1. a persistently dull, boring pest.
Show More

Origin of nudnik

1945–50, Americanism; < Yiddish, equivalent to nud- base of nudyen (see nudge2) + -nik -nik
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

headachenuisancepestschmonudnik
British Dictionary definitions for nudnik

nudnik

noun
  1. US informal an annoying or boring person
Show More

Word Origin

C20: from Yiddish nudyen to bore + -nik
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nudnik

n.

1947, from Yiddish, with agential suffix -nik + Polish nuda "boredom" or Russian nudnyi "tedious, boring," from Old Church Slavonic *nauda-, from PIE *neuti- "need" from root *nau- "death, to be exhausted" (see need (n.)).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper