niggard
Meanings
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
- To hoard; to act stingily.
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
amass, amound, carl, cheapass, cheapie, cheapo, cheapskate, churl, 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, scrooge, skinflint, snudge, squirrel, squirrel away, tight-arse, tightwad, uphoard
Scrabble Score: 10
niggard is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordniggard is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
niggard is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary