Nadsat

fictional language in the novel "A Clockwork Orange"

Nadsat is a slang language. It was invented by Anthony Burgess when he wrote a book called A Clockwork Orange. The book is about a teenager called Alex. Alex speaks Nadsat in the book. Stanley Kubrick turned the book into a film, also called A Clockwork Orange.

Nadsat
Created byAnthony Burgess
Date1962
Setting and usageA Clockwork Orange (novel and film)
Purpose
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
GlottologNone
IETFart-x-nadsat

The name of the slang language Nadsat comes from Russian. So do many words in the language itself. In Russian, numbers between ten and twenty end with -nadsat. This is like the way the same numbers end with -teen in English. So Nadsat means 'teen'.

Although there is 1950s Russian slang in Nadsat, there are other languages too. However, most words in Nadsat are English or variations of English. One type of English variation used is rhyming slang.

Examples
  • viddy: to see (from Russian slang)
  • appy polly logy: apology (rhyming slang)