influence of russian on AE

[Stephanie Hysmith]

I think this is based on Yiddish and maybe blended with the Russian suffix
-nik for effect. Perhaps it came out around the same era as 'beatnik,' too.
I doubt it has to do with nudism. Rather I would guess it refers to a
'nudge.' /nUj/ This is someone who's pesters you, keeps after you for
details or whatever. If someone has a Yiddish dictionary handy, please
correct me.

Isn't there also a word "nudnik" which I would understand as nude person or
>someone involved with nudism?  If so, this would probably be Yiddish rather
>than Russian. I don't see anything about the suffix "-nik" in DARE.  It
>became popular with "Sputnik."