nigger

English

Alternative forms

• nigga
• niggah (eye dialect)
• nigguh (eye dialect)

Etymology

Probably immediately from French nègre or Spanish and Portuguese negro (“a black African”); ultimately from Latin niger (“black”). Compare Dutch neger, Danish neger, Swedish neger, German Neger. Doublet of negro and noir.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nĭgʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: nĭgʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡɚ/

• Audio (Northern California, US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(ɹ)

Noun

nigger (plural niggers, feminine niggeress)

1. (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, see usage notes) A dark-skinned person, especially a person of, or primarily of, Negro descent; a black person. quotations ▼
2. (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar slang) A person of Negro descent who acts in an unapproved manner, usually as an archetypical badass. quotations ▼
3. (African American Vernacular English) An informal term of address. quotations ▼
4. (African American Vernacular English) A friend. quotations ▼
5. (now offensive) A fish, the luderick (Girella tricuspidata).
6. (now offensive, dated) A dark brown butterfly, Orsotriaena medus. quotations ▼
7. (archaic, electrical) An impurity in the covering of an electrical conductor which serves to make a partial short circuit, and thus becomes sufficiently heated to burn and destroy the insulation. quotations ▼
8. (Britain, Cornwall, fishing, archaic) A kind of sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali, the cotton spinner.
9. (archaic) A black caterpillar, the larva of the turnip sawfly. quotations ▼
10. (archaic) A strong iron-bound timber with sharp teeth or spikes protruding from its front face, forming part of the machinery of a sawmill, and used in canting logs, etc.
11. (archaic, US) A steam-capstan on some Mississippi river boats, used to haul the boat over bars and snags by a rope fastened to a tree on the bank. quotations ▼
12. (film, dated) A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects. quotations ▼
    • , Peter Snow, (page 114)

Usage notes

• The word "nigger" is considered one of the most offensive words in the English language. In a 2007 study by Kristy Beers Fägersten, undergraduates at the University of Florida were asked to rate 12 pejorative English words on a scale of 1 ('Not Offensive') to 10 ('Very Offensive'). Participants rated nigger the most offensive, nearly 2 points higher than the second-most offensive word, cunt.^[1] New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority conducted a study in 2010 and again in 2013 which found that nigger was the second-most offensive word in New Zealand (after cunt), offending 66% and 65% of those surveyed respectively,^[2][3] and a similar study by several British broadcasting organizations found that "nigger" offended 68% of Brits and was the fifth most offensive word in the UK (after cunt, motherfucker, fuck, and wanker).^[4]
• There have been efforts by those of African descent to reclaim the word (especially in the form nigga), but these efforts are controversial and some people do not believe it is able to be reclaimed due to its fraught history and continued derogatory usage.^[5] Regardless, usage by non-blacks is still almost invariably considered highly offensive.
• "Nigger" has derogatory connotations, suggesting not only negatively-perceived darkness of skin but also unfavorable attributes such as a lack of intelligence, chronic unemployment, use of government welfare, a propensity toward drug use and criminal behavior, etc.^[6] It is furthermore associated with the era of white colonization of Africa and enslavement of Africans and African Americans.
• To blunt its force, the word is commonly referred to as the "n-word" and is typically censored in direct quotations.

Synonyms

• (derogatory term for dark-skinned person): blackie, nigga, coon, darkie, gator bait, groid, jigaboo, jungle bunny, kaffir, macaca, nig-nog, porch monkey, sambo, shitskin, spade, spearchucker, spook, tarbaby, wog
• (friend): homie, nigga

Derived terms

Related terms

• negro

Translations

Verb

nigger (third-person singular simple present niggers, present participle niggering, simple past and past participle niggered)

1. (transitive, dated) To clear land by laying light pieces of round timber across the trunks of the trees and setting fire to them at the point of contact, by which means the trees are slowly burned through. quotations ▼
2. (transitive, dated) To exhaust (soil) by cropping it year by year without manure.
3. (intransitive, offensive) To behave as a stereotypical black person. quotations ▼
4. (uncommon, transitive, offensive) To treat as inferior. quotations ▼

References

Anagrams

• Gering, Ginger, erging, ginger

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Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English nigger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈneɡ̊ʌ]

Noun

nigger c (singular definite niggeren, plural indefinite niggere)

1. (vulgar, derogatory, offensive, rare) nigger; a dark-skinned person, especially a person of, or primarily of, Negro descent

Synonyms

• (dark-skinned, derogatory): abekat
• (dark-skinned, now offensive): neger
• (dark-skinned, neutral): sort, farvet, afrikaner

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English nigger.

Noun

nigger m (definite singular niggeren, indefinite plural niggere, definite plural niggerne)

1. (vulgar, offensive) nigger

Synonyms

• neger
• svarting

References

• “nigger” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English nigger.

Noun

nigger m (definite singular niggeren, indefinite plural niggerar, definite plural niggerane)

1. (vulgar, offensive) nigger

Synonyms

• neger
• svarting

References

• “nigger” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swedish

Etymology

Attested since 1888 according to Svenska Akademiens ordbok. From English nigger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡːer/

Noun

nigger c

1. (vulgar, offensive, dated) nigger, a variant of neger

Declension

more ▼Declension of nigger
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative
Genitive

Synonyms

• blatte
• neger
• svarting
• svartskalle

Anagrams

• regnig, riggen