Definitions For Nigger

Verb

(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. (transitive, dated) To exhaust (soil) by cropping it year by year without manure. (intransitive, now, _, offensive) To perform in blackface. (intransitive, offensive) To behave as a stereotypical black person. (uncommon, transitive, offensive) To treat as inferior.

Noun

(offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, see nigger#usage notes, usage notes) A black person; a person of black african descent. : (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, slang) A person of black African descent who behaves badly or unconventionally . (offensive, derogatory, vulgar, slang) Someone, regardless of race, whose behavior is considered to align with any of the negative stereotypes of black people. (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, see nigger#usage notes, usage notes) A member of any typically dark-skinned people . (AAVE) A friend, particularly a fellow black person . (figurative, especially, AAVE, otherwise, offensive) A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse). (especially in comparisons, now, offensive) A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people. (now, offensive) Any of various dark animals: (now, offensive) Any member of species Girella tricuspidata (luderick). (now, offensive, dated) A dark brown nymphalid butterfly, Orsotriaena medus, of south Asia, southeast Asia, and Australia. (UK, Cornwall, fishing, archaic) A kind of sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali, the cotton-spinner. (archaic) The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest. (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. (archaic) A strong iron-bound timber with sharp tooth, teeth or spikes protruding from its front face, forming part of the machinery of a sawmill, and used in canting logs, etc. (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. (film, dated) A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects.

Usage notes

The word "nigger" is considered to be extremely offensive and one of the most taboo 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. New Zealand's 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, and a similar study by several British broadcasting organizations found that "nigger" offended 68% of Britons and was the fifth most offensive word in the UK (after cunt, motherfucker, fuck, and wanker). 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. Regardless, usage by non-blacks is still almost invariably considered highly racist and offensive. "Nigger" has derogatory connotations, suggesting not only white racism and 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. It is furthermore associated with the enslavement and subordinate social status of Africans and African Americans. Historically, "nigger" was not necessarily always used in a specifically derogatory sense, though its use instead of black or Negro (historically a neutral term) often reflected subconscious negative attitudes towards African-Americans involving "keeping the black man in his place". To blunt its force, the word is commonly referred to as the "n-word" and may be censored in direct quotations. Not to be confused with the etymologically unrelated but similar-sounding niggard, t=miser.

Synonyms

derogatory term for black person blackie, bootlip, coon, darkie, groid, jigaboo, jogger, jungle bunny, kaffir, moon cricket, nig-nog, nigga, porch monkey, Sambo, shitskin, smoked Irishman, spade, spearchucker, spook, tar baby, wog friend homie, nigga

Derived terms

Estonian: neeger , pigi Finnish: neekeri, nekru, lakupekka, lakupetteri, laku French: nègre, m, négresse, f, négro, m, f, bougnoule, m, f Georgian: ზანგი German: Neger, m, Negerin, f, Nigger, m, Niggerin, f, Bimbo, m, Kaffer, m, Kafferin, f, Mohr, m , Mohrin, f Greek: αράπης, m, αραπίνα, f Hawaiian: nika Hebrew: כושון (kushon), כושי, m, tr=kúshi, alt=כושי \ כּוּשִׁי Hungarian: néger , feka Icelandic: negri, m Ido: nigracho Italian: negro, m, negra, f Japanese: 黒んぼ (kuronbo), 黒奴 (kokudo), ニガー (nigā) Korean: 검둥이, 깜둥이 Macedonian: црнец, m Norwegian: : Norwegian Bokmål: svarting, m, sotrør, n : Norwegian Nynorsk: svarting, m Persian: سیاه سوخته, tr=siyâh suxte, غلام سیاه (ğolâm-siyâh), کاکا سیاه (kâkâ-siyâh) Polish: czarnuch, m-pr, bambus, m-pr, asfalt, m-pr Portuguese: preto, m, macaco, m Romanian: negrotei, m, cioară, f Russian: негрито́с, m, негрито́ска, f, чернома́зый, m, чернома́зая, f, ни́ггер, m, чёрный, m (note: негр, m and негритя́нка, f are neutral terms), черножо́пый, m Slovak: neger, m Spanish: negro, m, negra, f, negrata, m, f, mayate, m , negrillo, m, negrilla, f, negrito, m, negrita, f, negrote, m, negraso, m, negro de mierda, mono, m, mona, f, gorila, m Swedish: neger, c, nigger, c, svarting, c Turkish: zenci, gündüz feneri Urdu: حبشی, m (habśī) , حبشن, f (habśan) , کالا, m (kālā) , کالی (kālī) Yiddish: שוואַרצער, m, שוואַרצע, f

Alternative forms

Etymology

Probably immediately from or and ; ultimately from , thus a . Compare , , , . The expected Modern English pronunciation would be with ; compare neger. The modern pronunciation with may be due to influence from the Latin (compare the older Southern US pronunciation of negro with ), but compare the dialectal American pronunciations of eagle and eager as and .