noun
Colloquial, often affectionate term for someone who drinks a lot of alcohol. Not strongly derogatory; can be used self-deprecatingly or jokingly.
うちの父は大の飲ん兵衛で、毎晩晩酌を欠かさない。
My dad is a big drinker and never misses his evening drink.
彼は
He's a heavy drinker, so he always stays until the very end at drinking parties.
Irregular okurigana usage; the ん is omitted in writing but pronunciation remains のんべえ.
Irregular okurigana variant with 呑; rarely used.
Search-only kanji form; not a standard spelling.
Derived from 飲む (to drink) with the colloquial ん insertion and 兵衛 (a common suffix in old male given names, used here as a personifying suffix). The exact origin is uncertain, but it likely arose as a playful nickname for a drinker.