adj
Meaning 1
Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
niggard
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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US: [ˈnɪɡɚd]
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Received-Pronunciation: [ˈnɪɡəd]
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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homophone: niggered
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CMU ARPABET: N IH1 G ER0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Miserly or stingy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: carl, cheapass, cheapie, cheapskate, cheapo, churl, clutchfist, el cheapo, last of the big spenders, magpie, miser, moneygrubber, muckworm, nickel nurser, nig, niggard, nigon, nipcheese, nipfarthing, penny-father, penny pincher, pickpenny, piker, pinch-commons, pinch-gut, pincher, pinchfist, pinchpenny, scrimp, scrooge, snudge, squirrel, skinflint, tight-arse, tightwad
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- 1833, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Godolphin It was evening: he ordered a fire and lights; and, leaning his face on his hand as he contemplated the fitful and dusky upbreakings of the flame through the bars of the niggard and contracted grate [...]
- 1851, From a catalog of the Great Exhibition Cooking apparatus, adapted for an opening eight feet wide, by five feet high, and containing an open-fire roasting range, with sliding spit-racks and winding cheek or niggard;
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To hoard; to act stingily.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: amass, amound, engross, get up, hoard, intreasure, niggard, packrat, rathole, squirrel away, uphoard
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: skinflint, scrooge, churl
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hoarder
Narrower terms: pinchgut
History
Etymology
From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), from nig (“niggardly person”), possibly of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Icelandic hnøggr (“miserly, stingy”), Old Norse *hniggw, with descendants Swedish njugg (“stingy”), dialectal Swedish niggla (“be stingy”), dialectal Norwegian nigla. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hnauwjaz, source of Old English hneaw (“stingy”), replaced by Middle English nig. Possibly cognate to niggle (“miser”). Compare German Knicker (“niggard”), knickerig (“niggardly”). Unrelated to the word nigger, but see the usage notes.