Meaning

14 senses
  1. (ethnic, offensive, slur, vulgar)A black person; a person of black African descent.

    (ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person

  2. A black person; a person of black African descent.

    (ethnic, offensive, slang, slur, vulgar)A person of black African descent who behaves badly or unconventionally (whether the speaker approves or disapproves).

  3. (ethnic, offensive, slur, vulgar)A member of any typically dark-skinned people (now especially in combinations like prairie nigger or sand nigger).

  4. A friend, particularly a fellow black person (often as an informal term of address).

  5. (figuratively)A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse).

  6. (especially, offensive)A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people.

  7. Any of various dark animals:

    (offensive)Any member of species Girella tricuspidata (luderick).

  8. (dated, offensive)A dark brown nymphalid butterfly, Orsotriaena medus, of south Asia, southeast Asia, and Australia.

  9. (dated)A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects.

  10. Any of various dark animals:

    (Cornwall, UK, archaic, offensive)A kind of sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali, the cotton-spinner.

  11. (archaic, offensive)The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest.

  12. (archaic)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.

Examples

7 sentences
  1. The word "nigger" is an offensive term.

    "Нігер" — образливе слово.

    de"Neger" ist ein abwertendes Wort.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · darinmex · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. "Nigger" is an offensive word.

    "Нігер" — образливе слово.

    ru"Ниггер" - оскорбительное слово.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · megamanenm · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. What a bunch of sand niggers.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Fenrir · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. "Hey, nigger!" "I don't really appreciate that you call me that."

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Amastan · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  5. What a bunch of niggers.

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Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
black person (derogatory):
Deutsch
By meaning 1
black person (derogatory):

Origin

Alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French nègre (“a black person”), from Spanish neg

Alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French nègre (“a black person”), from Spanish negro. Ultimately from Latin niger (“black”), thus a doublet of negro and noir. The expected Modern English pronunciation would be with /iː/; compare neger. The modern pronunciation with /ɪ/ may be due to influence from the Latin etymon (compare the older Southern US pronunciation of negro with /ɪ/), but compare the dialectal American pronunciations of eagle and eager as /ˈɪɡəl/ and /ˈɪɡɚ/. Compare Danish neger, Swedish neger, German Neger, Dutch neger. First use appears c. 1577, in the writings of Edward Hellowes (fl. 1574–1601).

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