-nik

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

-nik

1. Creates 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.

• Kabakchi, V. V. with Doyle, Charles Clay (Autumn 1990) “Of Sputniks, Beatniks, and Nogoodniks”, in American Speech‎^[1], volume 65, number 3, →JSTOR, pages 275-278

• -kin, -kin-, Kin, ink, k'in, kin

• -enik

From -n (“that”) +‎ -ik (partitive suffix).

-nik

1. Negative polarity item used to form relative clauses, that

   Ez dut esan etorriko direnik. ― I didn't say that they'll come.

• The form taken by this clitic depends on the ending of the verbal form to which it is attached, see the usage notes at -n.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Compare Ingrian -nikka, Livonian -nikā, Latvian -nieks and Russian -ник (-nik).

-nik (genitive -niku, partitive -nikku)

1. Forms occupational agent nouns. (non-productive)

   ‎kiri (“text”) + ‎-nik → ‎kirjanik (“writer”)

   ‎aed (“garden”) + ‎-nik → ‎aednik (“gardener”)

   ‎kunst (“art”) + ‎-nik → ‎kunstnik (“artist”)

From Proto-Slavic *-nikъ.

• IPA^(key): /nʲik/

-nik m

1. Forms masculine nouns referring to a performer of some action, sometimes a device; -er

   ‎rězaś (“to cut”) + ‎-nik → ‎rěznik (“butcher”)

Animate nouns:

Inanimate nouns:

• -nica f

-nik (plural -nikan, obligatorily possessed)

1. arm

• -nik-
• -nike-

• The Ojibwe People's Dictionary https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/ninik-nid

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-nikъ.

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /niːk/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /nik/

-nik m

1. forms masculine nouns referring to a performer of some action, sometimes a device

• Polish: -nik

Inherited from Old Polish -nik

• IPA^(key): /ɲik/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ik
• Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

-nik m

1. forms masculine nouns referring to a performer of some action, sometimes a device; -er

   ‎rola + ‎-nik → ‎rolnik

Personal nouns:

Impersonal nouns:

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *-nikъ, *-ьnikъ, itself originally by nominalization of adjectives in *-ьnъ with the suffix *-ikъ (whence -ik). The suffix originates from the Proto-Balto-Slavic period; compare with dialectal Lithuanian lauk-inykas (“peasant, farmer”) (from laũkas (“field”)) and Old Prussian lauk-inikis (“vassal”).

-nik (Cyrillic spelling -ник)

1. Suffix appended to nominal stems to create a masculine noun, usually denoting a professional, performer, adherent, place, object, tool or a feature.

• -ik
• -ica
• -nica

• Skok, Petar (1971) “-nik”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 1 (A – J), Zagreb: JAZU, page 515