Word.ws English Dictionary

nadsat

Syllables: Nad·sat/ˈnɑːdsət/US/ˈnɑdsət/

nadsat is the alternative letter-case form of Nadsat.

Proper noun capitalized: Nadsat

Nadsat (plural Nadsats)

  1. The Russian-influenced argot used by the teenage protagonists in Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange (1962).
    • […] Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, narrated by its teenage punk of a protagonist in an argot called nadsat, which is composed (a psychologist in the book explains) of "odd bits of rhyming slang. A bit of gypsy talk, too. But most of its roots are Slav." […] Despite the dazzling tour de force...1974, Style, volume 8, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 475
    • The Iraqi Misinformation Minisiter speaks about ACO in Nadsat!2003 April 24, Alex Thrawn, “The Iraqi Misinformation Minisiter speaks about ACO in Nadsat!”, in alt.movies.kubrick (Usenet)

Forms of nadsat

pluralNadsats
alternative formnadsat

Origin of nadsat

Borrowed from Russian -надцать (-nadcatʹ, “-teen”). The word was coined by English author Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) in his 1962 dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange.

Questions about nadsat

What does nadsat mean?
Nadsat means the Russian-influenced argot used by the teenage protagonists in Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange (1962).
What is nadsat the alternative letter-case form of?
Nadsat is the alternative letter-case form of Nadsat.
What part of speech is nadsat?
Nadsat is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce nadsat?
Nadsat is pronounced /ˈnɑːdsət/ (UK).

Words near nadsat in the dictionary

  1. nadrolone
  2. nadroparin
  3. Nadruvian
  4. Nadruvians
  5. nads
  6. nadsat
  7. Nadsats
  8. Nadvirna
  9. NAE
  10. nae nae
  11. Naeem

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nadsat (page history and authors); Nadsat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Nadsat.wav.

Cite this entry: “nadsat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nadsat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.