peacenik antedating (January 25, 1962)

[Garson O'Toole]

The discussion of -er suffix reminded me of another suffix: -nik.
Peacenik was discussed on this list in 2004 and mentioned in 2007. The
OED DRAFT REVISION Dec. 2005 has peacenik.

peacenik, n. orig. U.S. Freq. depreciative.
 A member of a pacifist movement; an advocate of peace.

The earliest OED cite is from 1963. The Village Voice uses the word in 1962:

By now she has become a committed peacenik: she is a board member of
the Greenwich Village Peace Center and heads there what is called (in
terminology borrowed from its original sponsors, the American Friends
Service Committee) the "Womens's Committee of Concern."

Citation: "The Bourgeois Mothers' Underground, On The Rise", page 6,
column 4, Village Voice, Jan 25, 1962.

Garson

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