beatnik
/ˈbiːtnɪk
/noun
A young person in the 1950s and early 1960s belonging to a subculture associated with the beat generation: her long black hair and comfortable clothes are the badge of the artist and beatnik [as modifier]: my beatnik costume of sandals and black sweater...
- They always do things ‘different’ out there - surfers, hippies, beatniks, and Hollywood are always the things people ask about, and they're believed to be the role models for how Californians think.
- But as these long-haired beatniks graduated from Düsseldorf Conservatory, they became frustrated with both classical formalism and avant-garde jazz.
- The first wave of post-war rebels, beatniks were arty, defiant and left-field.
Origin
1950s: from beat + -nik on the pattern of sputnik, perhaps influenced by US use of Yiddish -nik, denoting someone or something who acts in a particular way.