different between nogoodnik vs nudnik

English

Etymology

From no good +? -nik. Likely influenced by, evolved from, or borrowed directly into Yiddish from the Russian ???????? (negodnik, “worthless person, reprobate, ne'er-do-well”))

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /n?????dn?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /no????dn?k/

Noun

nogoodnik (plural nogoodniks)

1. A ne'er-do-well; an individual who is no good.
   • 1984, Martin Amis, Money, Vintage 2005, p. 182:

     Lorne's role was that of Gary, the nogoodnik father.

Synonyms

• bad guy, no-good, loser, miscreant, scoundrel

Related terms

• kibbutznik
• nudnik
• -nik

References

English

Alternative forms

• noodnick, noodnik, nudnick

Etymology

From Yiddish ??????? (nudnik) < root of ??????? (nudyen, “to bore”) + ????? (-nik, “noun-forming suffix”) (English -nik). Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *nuda < Proto-Indo-European *newti- (“need”) < *new- (“death, to be exhausted”).

Compare Russian ??????? (núdnyj, “tedious”), Ukrainian ??????? (núdnyj, “tedious”), Polish nudny (“boring”), Slovak nudný (“boring”), Old Church Slavonic ??????? (nuditi) or ?????? (n?diti, “to compel”), Hebrew ?????????? (“nag”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?n?dn?k/

Noun

nudnik (plural nudniks)

1. (US, colloquial) A person who is very annoying; a pest, a nag, a jerk. (Also used attributively.) [from 20th c.]
   • 1992, Richard Preston quoting Samuel Eilenberg, The New Yorker, 2 March, "The Mountains of Pi":

     He interrupts people, and he is not interested in anything except what concerns him and his brother. He is a nudnick!

   • 1962, Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America 2007, p. 15:

     Juliana greeted strangers with a portentous, nudnik, Mona Lisa smile that hung them up between responses, whether to say hello or not.

Related terms

• nudzh, noodge, nudge

Anagrams

• Dunkin, unkind