niggard
Plural: niggards
Noun
- a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend
- A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.
- A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.
Adj
- Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.
- Miserly or stingy.
Verb
Verb Forms: niggarded, niggarding, niggards
- To be reluctant to give or spend; to act stingily.
- To hoard; to act stingily.
Examples
- He would niggard his high-value tiles, waiting for the perfect Scrabble opportunity.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), from nig (“niggardly person”), possibly of Scandinavian origin;
compare Old Icelandic hnǫggr (“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.
Synonyms
churl, scrooge, skinflint, amass, amound, carl, cheapass, cheapie, cheapo, cheapskate, clutchfist, el cheapo, engross, get up, hoard, intreasure, last of the big spenders, magpie, miser, moneygrubber, muckworm, nickel nurser, nig, niggard, nigon, nipcheese, nipfarthing, packrat, penny pincher, penny-father, pickpenny, piker, pinch-commons, pinch-gut, pincher, pinchfist, pinchpenny, rathole, scrimp, snudge, squirrel, squirrel away, tight-arse, tightwad, uphoard
Scrabble Score: 10
niggard: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordniggard: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
niggard: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary