niggard

Meanings

Adjective

• Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.
• Miserly or stingy.

Noun

• A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.
• A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.

Verb

• To hoard; to act stingily.

Origin

• From Middle English nigard, nygard, from nig, possibly of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse hnǫggr. Possibly cognate to niggle. Compare German Knicker ("niggard"), knickerig. Not related to nigger.