niggard

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), from nig (“niggardly person”), possibly of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Icelandic hnøggr (“miserly, stingy”), Old Norse *hniggw, with descendants Swedish njugg (“stingy”), dialectal Swedish niggla (“be stingy”), dialectal Norwegian nigla. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hnauwjaz, source of Old English hneaw (“stingy”), replaced by Middle English nig. Possibly cognate to niggle (“miser”). Compare German Knicker (“niggard”), knickerig (“niggardly”). Unrelated to the word nigger, but see the usage notes. === Pronunciation === (US) IPA(key): [ˈnɪɡɚd] (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [ˈnɪɡəd] Homophone: niggered === Adjective === niggard (comparative more niggard, superlative most niggard) Sparing; stinting; parsimonious. Miserly or stingy. === Noun === niggard (plural niggards) A miser or stingy person; a skinflint. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:miser 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapter 6 "Many Partings": ‘No niggard are you, Éomer,’ said Aragorn, ‘to give thus to Gondor the fairest thing in your realm!’ A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel. 1833, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Godolphin It was evening: he ordered a fire and lights; and, leaning his face on his hand as he contemplated the fitful and dusky upbreakings of the flame through the bars of the niggard and contracted grate […] 1851, From a catalog of the Great Exhibition Cooking apparatus, adapted for an opening eight feet wide, by five feet high, and containing an open-fire roasting range, with sliding spit-racks and winding cheek or niggard; ==== Translations ==== === Verb === niggard (third-person singular simple present niggards, present participle niggarding, simple past and past participle niggarded) (intransitive) To hoard; to act stingily. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:amass ==== Usage notes ==== This word is unrelated to the racial slur nigger (a corruption of the Spanish word negro (“black”)), but some in the United States have taken offense at the word's use due to the phonetic similarity between the words. As such, the word has fallen out of general use, though some have attempted to reaffirm it as inoffensive. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== === References === === Anagrams === draggin', garding, grading