niggardly

niggardly

English

Etymology

niggard +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡədli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡɚdli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy; see also Thesaurus:stingy

   • 1609, Joseph Hall, (paraphrasing Ambrose? in) "No Peace with Rome", in Josiah Pratt (editor), The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D. D., Vol. IX. Polemical Works, London, (1808), page 57:

     [W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 47”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], OCLC 365836:

     They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

   • 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society, published 1998, →ISBN, page 186:

     This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

Usage notes

• This term may cause offence, especially in the US, as it is easily confused with niggerly, an adjectival form of the racial slur nigger.[1] As such, even though the two words are etymologically unrelated, it has still fallen out of general use.

Translations

withholding

Arabic: بَخِيل‎ (baḵīl) Bulgarian: стиснат (bg) (stisnat), свидлив (bg) (svidliv) Chinese: Mandarin: 吝嗇／吝啬 (zh) (lìnsè), 小氣／小气 (zh) (xiǎoqì), (informal) 摳門／抠门 (zh) (kōumén), 摳／抠 (zh) (kōu) Czech: lakotný, skoupý (cs) Dutch: krenterig (nl), gierig (nl) Finnish: pihi (fi), nuuka (fi), saita (fi), itara (fi) French: avare (fr), pingre (fr), mesquin (fr) German: geizig (de) Indonesian: kikir (id) Irish: ceachartha Maori: matewhēngoi, matatoua Old English: hnēaw Russian: жадный (ru) (žadnyj), скаредный (ru) (skarednyj), скупой (ru) (skupoj) Spanish: (rehuso) malicioso (es) Swedish: knusslig (sv), snål (sv), njugg (sv), gnidig (sv) Westrobothnian: små, smålig, snögg, snål, geru, mykkelsgeru, neo

Adverb

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. (now rare) In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:

     , New York 2001, p.105:

     because many families are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

Translations

in a parsimonious way — see stingily

References

1. Racist Language, Real and Imagined, Steven Pinker. February 2, 1999. The New York Times (editorial).

Further reading

• Controversies about the word "niggardly" on Wikipedia.Wikipedia