niks (which is a noun) to
niksen (which is a verb). So niksen literally means nothing-ing. Marjan Simons offers an alternative explanation:
niksen comes from
niksen.
As I researched niksen, I learned of other Dutch words with similar meanings, such as
lanterfanten. On her website BoekCoach (Book Coach), Dutch writer, editor, and entrepreneur Elise de Bres explains that
lanterfanten is like niksen in that “you can just do as you please and there is no aim in whatever you do.”
Another synonym is
luieren. (You just try to pronounce all those vowels! I’ve been here for ten years and still can’t manage.) In fact, the title of the Dutch edition of this book is