junkie

the word 'junkie' is a 20th-century american english formation. its first element, 'junk', emerged as slang for narcotics around 1925, possibly from the earlier sense of 'junk' meaning 'old or discarded material', implying the low quality or the destructive, wasteful nature of addiction. the suffix '-ie' (also '-y') is a common english patronymic or associative suffix of middle english origin, used to form informal nouns denoting a person characterized by something, as seen in words like 'groupie' or 'foodie'. thus, a 'junkie' literally means 'a person associated with junk (drugs)'. its meaning later broadened figuratively to describe anyone with a compulsive enthusiasm for a particular subject.

Structure: junk (narcotics) + ie (noun suffix) junk (english, slang term for narcotics, especially heroin) + ie (english, diminutive or informal noun-forming suffix, often indicating a person associated with the base word)