niggard
Americannoun
adjective
noun
adjective
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.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
Vocabulary lists containing niggard
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Aga Khans have been generously rewarded by Britannia—no niggard when she obtains good value for her money.
From Time Magazine Archive
Flowing around you, not brooding and nursing every niggard stone.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
He is a niggard, that little fellow, and gives but little; and those to whom he gives have not enough wherewith to enjoy themselves.
From The Marvellous History of the Shadowless Man and The Cold Heart by Chamisso, Adelbert von
But Maw Pritchett and her son and daughter seemed to be used to the old man’s way, and they helped each other and the Bray girls with no niggard hand.
From The Girls of Hillcrest Farm The Secret of the Rocks by Marlowe, Amy Bell
He was not a niggard, however, in his expenditure.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various
On March 7 he writes: "I have centered all my hopes on Paris, for the German princes are all niggards."
From Mozart: the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words by Kerst, Friedrich
The authorities of the London and Suburban Bank were no niggards.
From The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
My whole hopes are now centred in Paris, for German princes are all niggards.
From The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Nohl, Ludwig
Nature—it seems—when she meant us for earth Spent so much of her treasure in the birth As ever after niggards her, and she, Thus stor'd within, beggars us outwardly.
From Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II by Chambers, E. K. (Edmund Kerchever)
They are either not so rich in love as I am, or they are niggards where I am lavish.
From The Letters of Robert Burns by Burns, Robert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
