beatnik

Coined by American columnist Herb Caen in 1958.^[1] From beat (generation) +‎ -nik (“person who exemplifies or endorses something”). Compare jazznik.

The suffix, a cutesy or ironic use of the Russian suffix -ник (-nik), experienced a surge of use in English coinages for nicknames and diminutives after the 1957 Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtnɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

beatnik (plural beatniks)

1. A person who dresses in a manner that is not socially acceptable and is supposed to reject conventional norms of thought and behavior; nonconformist in dress and behavior.
2. A person associated with the Beat Generation of the 1950s and 1960s or its style.

   Synonym: beat

   • 2014, Ian McEwan, The Children Act, Penguin Random House (2018), page 185:

     In tight black jeans and black polo-neck sweater he reminded her of an old-fashioned beatnik.

• Baghdad by the Bay (also coined by Herb Caen)
• fringie
• hepcat
• hippie, hippy

From English beatnik.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtnik/, [ˈbiːt̪n̪ik]
• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːtnikːi/, [ˈbiːt̪n̪ikːi]
• Rhymes: -iːtnik

beatnik

1. beatnik

Partitive plural is commonly spelled with double-k as beatnikkejä, which may be considered erroneous.

Borrowed from English beatnik.

• IPA^(key): /bit.nik/

• Audio:

  (file)

beatnik m or f by sense (plural beatniks)

1. beatnik

• “beatnik”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from English beatnik.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbit.ɲik/
• Rhymes: -itɲik
• Syllabification: beat‧nik

beatnik m pers

1. (historical) alternative spelling of bitnik

• beatnik in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• beatnik in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English beatnik.

beatnik m or f by sense (plural beatniks)

1. beatnik (person associated with the Beat Generation of the 1950s and 1960s)