nudnik

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

nudnik

/ˈnʊdnɪk/ UK, US
/ˈnʌdnɪk/

Rhymes with -ʊdnɪk, -ʌdnɪk

Where it comes from

From Yiddish נודניק (nudnik), from the root of נודיען (nudyen, “to bore”) + ־ניק (-nik, noun-forming suffix) (English -nik), both of Slavic origin. The root derives from Proto-Slavic *nùditi (“to compel”) and the noun *nùďa (“need, necessity”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *new- or *neh₂w- (“to lack, need; to perish”). The suffix is from Proto-Slavic *-ьnikъ (forming agent nouns and objects).

Compare Russian ну́дный (núdnyj, “tedious”), Ukrainian нудни́й (nudnýj, “boring”), Polish nudny (“boring”), Slovak nudný (“boring”), Old Church Slavonic ноудити (nuditi) or нѫдити (nǫditi, “to compel”), Hebrew נוּדְנִיק (“nag”). See also English need, and compare needy for the semantics.

noun nudniks · noodnick · noodnik · nudnick

US, attributive, colloquial, sometimes A person who is very annoying; a pest, a nag, a jerk. He interrupts people, and he is not interested in anything except what concerns him and his brother. He is a nudnick!

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"nudnik." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nudnik. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

nudnik. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nudnik

Chicago

"nudnik." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nudnik.

BibTeX

@misc{nudnik_2026,
  title = {nudnik},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nudnik},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}