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Nigel.

A male given name from Latin, of mostly British usage.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈnaɪd͡ʒəl/
  1. A male given name from Latin, of mostly British usage.

  2. A small mining town in Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province, South Africa.

Where this word comes from

English form of Latin Nigellus, from nigellus (“slightly black”), diminutive of niger (“black”), used in the Middle Ages to Latinize Norman Néel and Old Irish Níall, from which the former is derived via Old Norse Njáll. Compare Neil.

noun/ˈnaɪd͡ʒəl/
  1. Synonym of dweeb (“boring or socially inept person”).

    Australia · derogatory
    He's such a Nigel, hanging around in the library all day by himself.
  2. An Englishman.

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

English form of Latin Nigellus, from nigellus (“slightly black”), diminutive of niger (“black”), used in the Middle Ages to Latinize Norman Néel and Old Irish Níall, from which the former is derived via Old Norse Njáll. Compare Neil.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.