-ничать

Russian

Etymology

Extracted from words such as безде́льничать (bezdélʹničatʹ) and у́мничать (úmničatʹ). By surface analysis, -ник (-nik) +‎ -ать (-atʹ).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [nʲɪt͡ɕɪtʲ]

Suffix

-ничать • (-ničatʹ)

  1. Productive verbal suffix used to indicate showing a certain behaviour
    капри́з (kapríz, caprice) + ‎-ничать (-ničatʹ) → ‎капри́зничать (kaprízničatʹ, to be capricious)
    коке́тка (kokétka, coquette, a flirt) + ‎-ничать (-ničatʹ) → ‎коке́тничать (kokétničatʹ, to flirt, to show off)
    нерв (nerv, nerve) + ‎-ничать (-ničatʹ) → ‎не́рвничать (nérvničatʹ, to be nervous)

Usage notes

  • The verbs are typically imperfective when unprefixed and are intransitive.

Conjugation

imperfective

perfective

Derived terms