nigger

nigger
noun Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger Date: 1786 1. usually offensive; see usage paragraph below a black person 2. usually offensive; see usage paragraph below a member of any dark-skinned race 3. a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons <
it's time for somebody to lead all of America's niggers…all the people who feel left out of the political process — Ron Dellums
>
Usage: Nigger in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nigger — (im afroamerikanischen Englisch auch Nigga, Niggar, Niggah oder Nigguh)[1]; in Südstaaten Aussprache auch Niggra, Nigra und Nighe[2]) ist eine rassistisch denotierte und äußerst abwertende Bezeichnung für Menschen dunkler Hautfarbe. Sie dient… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • nigger — (n.) 1786, earlier neger (1568, Scottish and northern England dialect), from Fr. nègre, from Sp. negro (see NEGRO (Cf. Negro)). From the earliest usage it was the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites… …   Etymology dictionary

  • nigger — ► NOUN offensive ▪ a black person. ● a nigger in the woodpile Cf. ↑a nigger in the woodpile USAGE The word nigger has had strong offensive connotations since the 17th century. Recently, however, it has begun to be used by black people as a mildly …   English terms dictionary

  • nigger — The word is highly offensive when used by a white person with reference to a black, but it can apparently be used without offence (along with a respelt version nigga) by one black person referring in a mildly disparaging way to another, perhaps… …   Modern English usage

  • nigger — [nig′ər] n. [Dial. or Slang] Negro USAGE originally simply a dialectal variant of Negro, the term nigger is today acceptable only in black English; in all other contexts it is now generally regarded as virtually taboo because of the legacy of… …   English World dictionary

  • nigger — ig ger, n. A negro; in vulgar derision or depreciation. It is usually intended and interpreted as highly insulting and vulgar. [Low, deprecatory, and vulgar] [1913 Webster +PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Nigger — (v. engl. negro), in Amerika verächtliche Bezeichnung eines Negers …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Nigger — Nigger, in Amerika verächtlich für Neger …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Nigger — Nigger,der:1.⇨Afrikaner–2.⇨Afroamerikaner Niggerabwertendfür:Schwarzer …   Das Wörterbuch der Synonyme

  • Nigger — This article is about the pejorative use of the word. For nigga as a colloquial reference, see Nigga. For other uses, see Nigger (disambiguation). Not to be confused with niggardly …   Wikipedia

  • nigger —    This would now normally be considered an insulting term to use to a black person, though one black speaker might use it to another as a kind of ironic reminder of their shared past.    In The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones, by Jesse Hill Ford …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

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