miser

See also: Miser and misër

English

Etymology

From Late Latin miser (“wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, miserable, sick, ill, bad, worthless, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪzə(ɹ)/
• :Rhymes: -aɪzə(r)

Noun

miser (plural misers)

1. (derogatory) A person who hoards money rather than spending it; one who is cheap or extremely parsimonious.

   Ebenezer Scrooge was a stereotypical miser: he spent nothing he could save, neither giving to charity nor enjoying his wealth.

2. A kind of earth auger, typically large-bored and often hand-operated.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:miser

Antonyms

• spendthrift

Derived terms

• miserly

Translations

skinflint or scrooge

• Arabic: بَخِيل‎‎ m (baḵīl), بَخِيلَة‎‎ f (baḵīla)
• Armenian: ժլատ (hy) (žlat), կծծի (hy) (kcci), գծուծ (hy) (gcuc), քցիպ (kʿcʿip)
• Catalan: avar m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 孤寒鬼 (gu¹ hon⁴ gwai²)

  Mandarin: 吝嗇鬼 (zh), 吝啬鬼 (zh) (lìnsèguǐ), 守財奴 (zh), 守财奴 (zh) (shǒucáinú)

  Min Nan: 凍霜鬼, 冻霜鬼 (tàng-sng-kúi)

• Czech: lakomec (cs) m
• Danish: gnier c
• Dutch: gierigaard (nl) m, vrek (nl) m
• Esperanto: avarulo, avarulino
• Finnish: saituri (fi), kitupiikki (fi)
• French: avare (fr) m
• Georgian: ძუნწი (ʒunc̣i)
• German: Geizhals (de) m, Geizkragen (de) m, Geiziger m, Geizige f, Pfennigfuchser (de) m, Pfennigfuchserin (de) f, Pfennigklauber m, Pfennigklauberin f, Rappenspalter m (Swiss German), Rappenspalterin f, Knauser m, Knauserin f
• Greek: τσιγγούνης, φιλάργυρος (tsingoúnis, filárgyros)

  Ancient: θρῑ́ψ m (thrī́ps)

• Hebrew: קמצן‎‎ m (qamtsan)
• Hindi: कंजूस (hi) (kanjūs)

• Icelandic: nirfill (is) m
• Italian: avaro (it) m, avara (it) f
• Japanese: 守銭奴 (ja) (しゅせんど, shusendo), ケチ (ja) (kechi)
• Latin: avarus m, avara f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Pennschieter m, Pennschieterin f, Pennschietersch f, Pennschietersche f, Giezknuppen m

• Norman: agravé m, avare m, rapinneux m
• Norwegian: gjerrigknark (no) m
• Polish: sknera (pl) m, skąpiec (pl) m, dusigrosz (pl) m
• Portuguese: avarento (pt) m, avarenta (pt) f, mão-de-vaca (pt)
• Romanian: zgârcit (ro)
• Russian: скря́га (ru) m, f (skrjága), жа́дина (ru) m, f (žádina), скупе́ц (ru) m (skupéc), скупердя́й (ru) m (skuperdjáj), курку́ль (ru) m (kurkúlʹ), жмот (ru) m (žmot)
• Spanish: avaro (es) m, avara (es) f
• Swahili: mbahili
• Swedish: gnidare (sv) c, girigbuk (sv) c
• Telugu: లోభి (te) (lōbhi)
• Turkish: cimri (tr), pinti (tr), hasis (tr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) lavaran (vo), (♂) hilavaran, (♀) jilavaran

See also

• misère

Further reading

• miser in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• miser in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• miser at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• IMers, Mires, Reims, emirs, mires, reims, reism, remis, riems, rimes

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French

Etymology

mise +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.ze/

Verb

miser

1. (gambling) to bet (place a bet)

Conjugation

Conjugation of miser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

present participle		misant /mi.zɑ̃/
past participle		misé /mi.ze/
infinitive
simple		miser
compound		avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple		misant /mi.zɑ̃/
compound		ayant + past participle
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	mise /miz/	mises /miz/	mise /miz/	misons /mi.zɔ̃/	misez /mi.ze/	misent /miz/
	imperfect	misais /mi.zɛ/	misais /mi.zɛ/	misait /mi.zɛ/	misions /mi.zjɔ̃/	misiez /mi.zje/	misaient /mi.zɛ/
	past historic2	misai /mi.zɛ/	misas /mi.za/	misa /mi.za/	misâmes /mi.zam/	misâtes /mi.zat/	misèrent /mi.zɛʁ/
	future	miserai /miz.ʁɛ/	miseras /miz.ʁa/	misera /miz.ʁa/	miserons /miz.ʁɔ̃/	miserez /miz.ʁe/	miseront /miz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	miserais /miz.ʁɛ/	miserais /miz.ʁɛ/	miserait /miz.ʁɛ/	miserions /mi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	miseriez /mi.zə.ʁje/	miseraient /miz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	mise /miz/	mises /miz/	mise /miz/	misions /mi.zjɔ̃/	misiez /mi.zje/	misent /miz/
	imperfect2	misasse /mi.zas/	misasses /mi.zas/	misât /mi.za/	misassions /mi.za.sjɔ̃/	misassiez /mi.za.sje/	misassent /mi.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	mise /miz/	—	misons /mi.zɔ̃/	misez /mi.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “miser” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• émirs, mires, mirés, Reims, remis, rimes, rîmes

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Latin

Etymology

Of unknown origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mēwdʰ- (“to complain, be emotional about”), the same root of Latin maereō and Ancient Greek μῖσος (mîsos, “hatred”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ser/, [ˈmɪ.sɛr]

• Audio (Roman)

  (file)

• Audio (classical)

  (file)

Adjective

miser (feminine misera, neuter miserum); first/second declension

1. poor, wretched, pitiful
   • 29 bc. Vergil. Aeneid, Book I

     non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco

     being not unacquainted with woe, I learn to help the unfortunate

2. miserable, unhappy
3. worthless, null
4. tragic, unfortunate
5. sick
6. tormenting

Inflection

First/second declension, nominative masculine singular in -er.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
nominative	miser	misera	miserum		miserī	miserae	misera
genitive	miserī	miserae	miserī		miserōrum	miserārum	miserōrum
dative	miserō		miserō		miserīs
accusative	miserum	miseram	miserum		miserōs	miserās	misera
ablative	miserō	miserā	miserō		miserīs
vocative	miser	misera	miserum		miserī	miserae	misera

• comparative: miserior, superlative: miserrimus

Derived terms

• misellus
• misereō
• miseria

• misericors
• miserulus
• miseror

Related terms

• miserābilis
• miserandus
• miserātiō

• miserātor / misertor
• misericordia

Descendants

• Eastern Romance:
  • Romanian: meser, measer
• Italian: misero
• Old French: mezre
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: míser
• Old Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: mísero
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: mísero
• → Albanian: mjerë (disputed)
• → English: miser
• → Romanian: mizer

References

• miser in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• miser in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• miser in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to live a happy (unhappy) life: vitam beatam (miseram) degere
    
• H. H. Mallinckrodt, Latijn Nederlands woordenboek (Aula n° 24), Utrecht-Antwerpen, Spectrum, 1959 [Latin - Dutch dictionary in Dutch]