nudnik

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 20, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>nudnik</strong> &#149; \NOOD-nik (the &quot;OO&quot; is as in &quot;good&quot;)\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><em>Nudnik</em> refers to a person who is a bore or nuisance.</p> <p>// She dreads family gatherings, as her <em>nudnik</em> of a brother-in-law is always sure to be there droning on about this or that.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nudnik">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>“A ‘comic book obsessed <em>nudnik</em>,’ [Anthony] Bourdain was born in Manhattan on his literary hero’s birthday (George Orwell) and grew up in New Jersey. Deeply influenced by Hunter S. Thompson, ‘Angry Anthony’ was raised in a household under the ‘smothering chokehold of love and normalcy,’ as he wrote in <em>Medium Raw</em>.” — <em>Kirkus Reviews</em>, 1 Aug. 2022</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The suffix <em>-nik</em>, meaning “one connected with or characterized by being,” came to English through Yiddish (and ultimately from Polish and Ukrainian). You might know it from such words as <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beatnik"><em>beatnik</em></a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peacenik"><em>peacenik</em></a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neatnik"><em>neatnik</em></a>, or even <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/no-goodnik"><em>no-goodnik</em></a>. The suffix <em>-nik</em> is frequently used in English to create <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonce%20word">nonce words</a> that are often playfully jokey or slightly derogatory. Some theorize that the popularity of the suffix was enhanced by Russian <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Sputnik"><em>Sputnik</em></a>, as well as Al Capp's frequent use of <