niggardly

English

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From niggard ‎ -ly (adjectival suffix).

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:

     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. 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)
• Ingrian: kuiva
• Irish: ceachartha
• Maori: matewhēngoi, matatoua
• Old English: hnēaw
• Polish: skąpy (pl)
• Russian: жадный (ru) (žadnyj), скаредный (ru) (skarednyj), скупой (ru) (skupoj)
• Spanish: (rehuso) malicioso (es)
• Swedish: knusslig (sv), snål (sv), njugg (sv), gnidig (sv)

Etymology 2

From niggard ‎ -ly (adverbial suffix).

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: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , 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

Further reading

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