niggardly
/ˈnɪɡədli/
"niggardly" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“niggardly” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-niggardly · niggardly · English
niggardly · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "N" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | niggardly |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈnɪɡədli/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “niggardly” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
niggardly is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈnɪɡədli/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for niggardly in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From niggard + -ly (adjectival suffix). The correct English form is niggardly, spelled N-I-G-G-A-R-D-L-Y.
Definition
- 1Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
- 2Conceding few runs (of a bowler).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how niggardly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.
They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.
Etymology
From niggard + -ly (adjectival suffix).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.