Meanings
plural nudniks · alternative noodnick · alternative noodnik · alternative nudnick
- USattributivecolloquialsometimesA person who is very annoying; a pest, a nag, a jerk.First known use 20th c.
He interrupts people, and he is not interested in anything except what concerns him and his brother. He is a nudnick!
1992, Richard Preston quoting Samuel Eilenberg, The New Yorker, 2 March, "The Mountains of Pi"1 more example
Juliana greeted strangers with a portentous, nudnik, Mona Lisa smile that hung them up between responses, whether to say hello or not.
1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 15
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*new-
- Proto-Slavic*nùditi“to compel”
- Slavic
- Yiddishנודניק
- Englishnudnik
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.
More words from Yiddish, Slavic, Proto-Slavic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
nudnik. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nudnik
“nudnik.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nudnik. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nudnik,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nudnik.
Source: nudnik on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.