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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

niggard.

Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj[ˈnɪɡɚd]US[ˈnɪɡəd]Received-Pronunciation

  1. Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.

  2. Miserly or stingy.

Where this word comes from

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.

noun[ˈnɪɡɚd]US[ˈnɪɡəd]Received-Pronunciation

  1. A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.

  2. A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.

Where this word comes from

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.

verb[ˈnɪɡɚd]US[ˈnɪɡəd]Received-Pronunciation

  1. To hoard; to act stingily.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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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.