Beatnik

[BigDogsWang]

I know what one is, but what does it mean?

[Quizmonster]

There are two theories of where the 'beat generation' got its name. The first is that it is the American English past participle form meaning 'beaten'...ie defeated. The other is - according to Jack Kerouac, one of the founders, as it were - that it is related to 'beatitude' or blessing. So, take your pick...defeated or blessed.

The 'nik' part is just an arbitrary use of the European Hebrew language suffix which one is not allowed to name on this site. It begins with a 'Y' and ends in 'ish' with the letters 'idd' between. We saw it in the name of the space vehicle 'Sputnik' and more recently in 'peacenik'. All it suggests is that here we have someone involved in whatever the first part of the word is.

[Wispy68]

A ''beat'' person, one who lives a beat life, akin to the American hipster. Socially, politically, intellectually and artistically the beatnik stands apart and is an ANGRY YOUNG MAN or woman, ultra-BOHEMIAN, flouting all or most of the established conventions and values. The beatnik is distinguished by unconventional dress and slovenliness. The term may derive from the ''beat generation'' (meaning dissatisfied young people) and a Russian suffix (nik, as in SPUTNIK).

[Quizmonster]

The etymology I suggested in my earlier response is the one offered by The Oxford English Dictionary - the 'bible' of etymology. The 'beat' in 'beat generation' is the American version of the verb meaning 'worn out/defeated', on the basis that beatniks found life "just all too much" for them and only secondarily to do with the 'beat' in music.

The very earliest recorded use of a 'nik' type of suffix in English was in the word 'stuck-upnick' (the meaning of which is self-explanatory). This appeared in a book published in 1945 and predates 'sputnik and 'beatnik' by some time and gave rise to a whole slew of '...nik' words. Its origin is in both Russian and the Y-language I referred to before .

[BigDogsWang]

Cheers everyone!