niggard

American  

[nig-erd] / ˈnɪg ərd /

noun

1. an excessively parsimonious, miserly, or stingy person.

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adjective

1. miserly; stingy.

niggard British  

/ ˈnɪɡəd /

noun

1. a stingy person

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adjective

1. archaic miserly

Sensitive Note

The words niggard and niggardly are often misinterpreted as racial slurs because they sound like what is probably the most offensive word in the English language. Actually, niggard dates back to Middle English. The first element nygg-, nig- was borrowed from a Scandinavian source, and -ard is a pejorative suffix. The adjective and adverb niggardly is a modern English formation from niggard. Historical linguists and others familiar with the etymology of these words know that they are not truly related to the word nigger. However, the source of a term is not as important as how it is perceived and used in contemporary language. So even if the words niggard and niggardly are not racial slurs in their etymologies, meanings, or historical uses, it may be wisest to avoid these terms. The connotation or perception of any word is determined by how it is used, received, and interpreted; niggard and niggardly may be offensive to many speakers because of this speculative, but false, etymology.

Etymology

Origin of niggard

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English nyggard, nigard “a stingy person,” from earlier nig “a stingy person” (from Old Norse; compare Old Icelandic hnöggr “stingy,” dialectal Swedish njugg, nygg “parsimonious”; akin to Old English hnēaw “stingy”) + -ard

Example Sentences

Walking in a valley greene, Spred with Flora summer queene: Where shee heaping all hir graces, Niggard seem'd in other places: Spring it was, and here did spring All that nature forth can bring.

From The Age of Shakespeare by Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Niggard in nothing, Near and far strewed he Beauty and blessing, Bought with his gold; Gave he most gladly Guerdon unstinted, Sadness he solaced, Suffering relieved.

From Fridthjof's Saga; a Norse romance by Holcomb, Martha A. Lyon

The Diuell is a Niggard, Or ha's giuen all before, and he begins A new Hell in himselfe    Buc.

From Henry VIII by Shakespeare, William

Niggard she was, and had good reason to be so, in order to subsist on the little annuity she had contrived, in the days of her service, to scrape together.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 383, September 1847 by Various

Seven years now of promise fickle, Niggard ooze, and paltry trickle, Freshet sprinkling scanty dole, Where the roaring flood should roll.

From Fringilla: Some Tales In Verse by Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)