One of the most productive in the Russian language is the suffix -nik- (-nits-). I must say that he has an alternation of consonants to / c. The variant with the letter “k” forms words that relate to the masculine gender, the variant with the letter “c” refers to the feminine words.
It forms words with a common objective meaning, that is, it happens in nouns. Words with the suffix -nik- can be divided into groups according to their lexical meaning.
Face words
This is a very large semantic group. All words in it denote a person by his activity, occupation, and profession.
If this is a person of the male sex, they have -nik- suffix, examples of such words: the boatman, a tanner, gardener, forester, a graduate, repairman, dirty dog, a robber, agrarian, altynnik, apparatnik, balalaika, mischievous child, Balyasnikov, baranochnik, Baryshnikov, shoemaker , white-tickete, shoreline, beadworker, harlot, bribe-taker, hangman, extraordinary, waterman, military leader, wizard, freedman, perpetrator, eighties, eighth-grader, rider, second-year students, second-graders, sophomores, graduate, eye-catcher, golotnopromnik hunter foreman, town governor, sinner, sinner, mushroom picker, summer resident, janitor, ninth grader, tenth grader, foreman, graduate student, debtor, pre-conscript, road builder, preschool child, protector, pickpocket, convict, filmmaker, brick worker, slanderer, collective farmer, nomad, seditious, seditious hooker, wizard, puppeteer, cultivator, holidaymaker, paramedic, miller, rider, classmate, excellent, gunsmith, submarine worker, scout, libertine, ranger, wise guy, scout, schismatic, libertine, warrior, interlocutor, adviser, satellite, prisoner, magician , artist, coupletman, cup-maker, man-hater, warlock, fourth-grader, fourth-year student, drummer, gluttonous, coven, hat-maker, artisan, sixth-grader, shinnik, schoolboy, skinner, shornik, fencer, skirt, ovadnik, pagan.
If these are female persons, nouns denoting them have a morpheme –nits: teacher, interlocutor, parturient woman, prelestress, witness, worker, artisan, wizard, etc.
Words for plants
There are nouns in the Russian language with the suffix –nik–, denoting a plant or a place on which it grows.
For example: barberry, birch, vineyard, cherry, daphne, lichen, black-headed; vetelnik, bryozoan, alder, gooseberry, sunflower, broom, currant, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, lingonberry, spruce, aspen, wren, buckthorn, hazel, rosehip, barley, berry.
Words with the meaning of a household item
Words with the suffix -nik- (-nits-) denote dishes or some other things in the house. Examples of these words: teapot, salad bowl, teapot, coffee pot, stewpan, washstand, gravy boat, salver, pepper shaker, tureen, sugar bowl, ducklings.
There is a group of words with the meaning of a fixture, instrument: alarm clock, conductor, water collector, water trap, damper, thermometer, milking parlor, elevator, waste bin, collar, radio, boiler, refrigerator, freezer, soldering iron, candlestick.
A special group consists of words that call food or food intake: evening meal, afternoon snack, potato pancake, chicken pot, gingerbread, pickle, cottage cheese.
We can distinguish a category of words that designates rooms and buildings: an upper room, a stall, a stall, a pigsty, a barn, a chicken coop, a calf.
The suffix “nick” also forms words with the meaning “clothing”: summer, padded jacket, arm sleeve, sweatshirt, companions, skosklinik.
Words formed by the suffix-suffix
Some words with the suffix “nick” are formed by the simultaneous addition of the prefix and the suffix. Such words also have an objective meaning:
- an item below something: a window sill, an armrest, a cup holder, a headrest.
- item covering something: headband, tip, knob, arm sleeve, knee pad, muzzle, headphones.
- a man who does not have anything: a stowaway, a chatterless man, a horseless man, a shameless man, a homeless child, a spineless man, a godless man, a dowry.
- people or objects along something: border guard, plantain.
The objective meaning of such words is formed using the suffix, and the spatial meaning is introduced by the prefix.
How to distinguish suffixes ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
What is the suffix in a word, for example, a mechanic? If you say that -nik-, then this will be erroneous. In a word, a mechanic is a word-forming morpheme - –––. To prove this, you need to do a word-formation analysis: a mechanic is a person with the ability to handle mechanisms, in the producing basis there is a letter “n”. It follows that the suffix here is -ik-.
According to the same principle, the word “sandstone” distinguishes the same morpheme –ik–, but not ––––, as the producing word is sandy. And at the heart of this word is the letter "n".
And in the word lichen, unambiguously, the suffix is “nick.” It is formed from the word "lichen". As you can see, at the heart of this word there is no letter "n".
How do double consonants of NN appear in nouns
A double consonant in a word appears, as a rule, at the junction of morphemes, unless, of course, the word is foreign in origin. This means that one “n” refers to the basis of the producing word, and the second “n” is the first letter of the suffix. You can cite the words with –nik- as an example: banner (bath), wanderer (country), chosen one (chosen), guard (guard), fable (fable), root (root), supporter (party), birthday (name days), con artist (moshna), elderberry (elderberry), insomnia (sleep), woodpile (log).
Difficulty may arise when distinguishing between the suffix –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Consider the examples: security guard - security (–––––), chosen one –– elected (––––). What needs to be learned in this case? A very simple circumstance: –nick– is used when a noun is formed from another noun, and –ik– produces a noun from an adjective or participle.
Here are examples of words where the suffix is -nik- or -n- and -ik:
- -nick-: squad nickname (squad-substance), mountain ash-nick (mountain ash-substance), arshin-nick (arshin-substance), patrimonial nickname (patrimony-substance)
- -n + -ik: hryvnia-n-ik (hryvnias - adj.), con-n-ik (equestrian - adj.), radical-n-ik (indigenous - adj.), captive-n-ik (captive - adj.), priest-n-ik (sacred - adj.), proper-n-ik (own - adj.), public-n-ik (public - adj.), sent-n-ik (sent - pr. ), production-n-ik (production - adj.), relatives-n-ik (related - adj.), semen-n-ik (seed - adj.), modern-n-ik (modern - adj.), exiled-n-ik (exiled - app.)
Words with one letter "n"
One letter "n" is written in nouns that are formed from adjectives or participles with one buva "n". Examples of words that spell one letter n: varin-ik (boiled), vetren-ik (windy), gostin-it-a (sitting), wood-ik (wood), hemp-ik (hemp), kostyan-ik -a (bone), maslen-it-a (butter), peat-ik (peat).
Suffix –Nick– in English
This suffix with the words "satellite" and "hipster" got into the English language. The whole world knows the first word after the launch of the first satellite of the Earth.
The second word is associated with the name of the journalist Herba Kain, who proposed to call the generation of broken youths the word “beatniks”.
Thus, the Russian suffix got into the English language and formed in it a whole nest of words with the meaning of a person who adheres to a certain style of behavior.
In English, he gives words a mocking, dismissive meaning. This property is common with respect to borrowing, recall Leo Tolstoy: he used the French language to negatively characterize his negative heroes.
About two dozen English words have the suffix "nick". Examples of some of them:
- neatnik - caring for himself;
- peacenik - opposed to war;
- refusenik - travel abroad;
- protestnik - protester;
- draftnik - called up for military service;
- Vietnik - served in Vietnam;
- folknik - a fan of folklore;
- nudnik - a boring person;
- no-goodnik - a low-worthy person from whom nothing good is expected;
- Freudnik - a follower of Freud;
- Goethenik - a fan of Goethe;
- detentenik - supporter of detant;
- computernik - a fan of computer technology;
- real-estatenik - real estate dealer;
- sitnik is a follower of Buddhism.
Thus, there is a suffix “nick” in Russian, which made a good career in English.