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beatnik

beatnik

15 9.0
A young person in the 1950s who lived a free, artistic life and wore unusual clothes
  • noun
  • /ˈbiːtnɪk/
  • Archaic
translation icon : beatnik
  • Uh, she's kind of a beatnik, isn't she?
  • beatniks and hippies
  • beatnik look
  • beatnik coffeehouses

And I quote, actual beatniks sitting around.

Examples

  • If I'd known we were going to a beatnik joint for coffee and word-jazz, I'd have worn my black tights.

  • Ace is a gentle aging beatnik with mild Tourette's.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • - Is he a beatnik ?

  • The beatnik lawyer, is she even 18?

  • "It's hard for me to see you as some sort of beatnik living in San Francisco, Mom.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He looks like a beatnik.

  • Jack Wander looked for all the world like what was known in the late fifties as a beatnik.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • One of my dearest best friends who's no longer alive was Philip Whelan, the beatnik poet and Zen priest.

  • Well, the Hindus say—and the beatniks also—that in the next life some of us will come back as ants.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • In the 1960s, he dyed his hair and adopted the unconventional style typical of a beatnik.

Synonyms

beat
vsbeatnik
  • Literature
27 9.6

A writer or artist from the Beat Generation of the 1950s

is a young person of that era known for an artistic unconventional lifestyle
bohemian
vsbeatnik
4 7.1

A person who lives like an artist and ignores normal social rules

is a young person from the 1950s and 1960s associated with a specific subculture

Surface Forms

beatnik singular
beatniks plural

Morphology

beatnik = beat (semi-transparent) = beat + nik

Formally built from 'Beat' + the borrowed suffix '-nik' meaning 'person associated with', but understanding requires knowledge of the cultural term 'Beat' and the nonstandard suffix.

Etymology

The word beatnik puts together beat, a word the Beat writers used to mean 'tired or worn down', and the ending -nik, a Russian-style suffix made famous by Sputnik that means 'person connected with'. So a beatnik is someone linked to the Beat movement — a young, artistic person who lived in a different way and did not follow normal rules.