Personal site of Eric T. Meek, MD FAWM
adjective
(of a person’s hair, clothes, or appearance) untidy; disordered : a man with long, disheveled hair. DERIVATIVES dishevel |-? sh ev?l| verb dishevelment noun
ORIGIN late Middle English : from obsolete dishevely, from Old French deschevele, past participle of descheveler (based on chevel hair, from Latin capillus). The original sense was [having the hair uncovered] ; later, referring to the hair itself, [hanging loose,] hence [disordered, untidy.] Compare with unkempt .
nudnik NOOD-nik (“OO” as in “good”) (noun)
: a person who is a bore or nuisance
Example sentence:
“Sometimes he can be such a nudnik, always pestering me to go outside.” Did you know –
Nud originates in Yiddish from the word “nuda” meaning “boredom.” The suffix -nik ultimately came to English through Yiddish and Russian c. 1945 being popularized with the word sputnik. -nik is a common personal suffix meaning “person or thing associated with or involved in” (e.g. blognik “member of the blogisphere”).