niggard

English

Alternative forms

• nigger (only in sense: "false bottom in a grate")

Etymology

From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), equivalent to nig +‎ -ard.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: [ˈnɪɡɚd]
• (RP) IPA: [ˈnɪɡəd]

Adjective

niggard (comparative more niggard, superlative most niggard)

1. Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.
2. Miserly or stingy.
   • 1852, William and Robert Chambers, Chambers' Edinburgh Journal:

     [H]is heart swelled within him, as he sat at the head of his own table, on the occasion of the house-warming, dispensing with no niggard hand the gratuitous viands and unlimited beer, which were at once to symbolise and inaugurate the hospitality of his mansion.

Noun

niggard (plural niggards)

1. A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.
   • 1618, John Taylor, The Pennyles Pilgrimage OR The Money-lesse Perambulation of John Taylor:

     All his pleasures were social; and while health and fortune smiled upon him, he was no niggard either of his time or talents to those who needed them.

   • 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!’

2. A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.

Usage notes

Wikipedia

• The word is unrelated to the racial epithet nigger (a corruption of the Spanish word negro, meaning "black"), but some might take offense due to the phonetic similarity between the words.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:miser

Derived terms

• niggardise/niggardize
• niggardly
• niggardness
• niggardous
• niggardship
• niggardy

Related terms

• nig
• niggish
• niggle
• nigon

Translations

a miser or stingy person — see skinflint

Anagrams

• grading