beatnik
Plural: beatniki, beatniks
Noun
- A person of the 1950s or 60s associated with the Beat Generation.
- a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
- 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.
- A person associated with the Beat Generation of the 1950s and 1960s or its style.
Examples
- Playing obscure words is his beatnik approach to the mainstream game.
Origin / Etymology
Coined by American columnist Herb Caen in 1958. 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.
Synonyms
Scrabble Score: 13
beatnik: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbeatnik: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
beatnik: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 15
beatnik: valid Words With Friends Word