Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • suffix A suffix attached to other words indicating a person with certain characteristics or associated with a certain group or behavior; it is sometimes used derogatorily.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • suffix Appended to words to create a nickname for a person who exemplifies, endorses, or is associated with the thing or quality specified (by the base form), often a particular ideology or preference.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Slavic suffix (Russian: -ник (-nik)). This suffix experienced a surge in English coinages for nicknames and diminutives after the 1957 Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite. English usage is heavily influenced by Yiddish usage of -nik and similar borrowed words (nogoodnik, nudnik, kibbutznik).

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Examples

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  • -nik

    November 13, 2010