nigger
[nig-er]
|
noun
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
- a contemptuous term used to refer to a black person.
- a contemptuous term used to refer to a member of any dark-skinned people.
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of any racial or ethnic origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by black people; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.
Origin of nigger
1640–50; < French nègre < Spanish negro black
Usage alert
The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. The senses labeled Extremely Disparaging and Offensive represent meanings that are deeply insulting and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. It is so profoundly offensive that a euphemism has developed for those occasions when the word itself must be discussed, as in court or in a newspaper editorial: “the n-word.”
Despite this, the sense referring to a “black person” is sometimes used self-referentially among African Americans in a neutral or familiar way. The sense referring to other victims of prejudice, especially when used descriptively, as to denounce that prejudice, is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments —but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.
Despite this, the sense referring to a “black person” is sometimes used self-referentially among African Americans in a neutral or familiar way. The sense referring to other victims of prejudice, especially when used descriptively, as to denounce that prejudice, is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments —but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for nigger
Contemporary Examples of nigger
Lipsyte was curious—the nice part about tabula rasa is you see everyone anew—and had co-written Dick Gregory's Nigger.
The black people had to sit outside the stadium on a red, dirt hill called 'Nigger Hill.'
Historical Examples of nigger
Nigger Jim walked up to the bad man, his hand on his revolver-butt.
When the West Was YoungFrederick R. Bechdolt
"Nigger 'Lection" was so called in distinction from Artillery Election.
Customs and Fashions in Old New EnglandAlice Morse Earle
He hurried Nigger down the slope, but he had to be careful with his burden.
'Firebrand' TrevisonCharles Alden Seltzer
Mitch would rather be around where Nigger Dick was than any one.
Mitch MillerEdgar Lee Masters
Chalk down two, Nigger: one for Becket and one for the bad family.
BoycottedTalbot Baines Reed
nigger
noun offensive, taboo
Word Origin for nigger
C18: from C16 dialect neeger, from French nègre, from Spanish Negro 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper