nigger
/ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/
"nigger" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nigger” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #18,375 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,375
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A black person; a person of black African descent.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nigger |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #18,375 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nigger” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nigger is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #18,375 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for nigger, with forms such as "ingger", "ngiger", and "nigegr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "nugget", "nighter", "Nigel", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed 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/… The correct English form is nigger, spelled N-I-G-G-E-R.
Definition
- 1A black person; a person of black African descent.
- 2A black person; a person of black African descent.
- 3A member of any typically dark-skinned people (now especially in combinations like prairie nigger or sand nigger).
- 4A friend, particularly a fellow black person (often as an informal term of address).
- 5A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse).
- 6A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people.
- 7Any of various dark animals:
- 8Any of various dark animals:
- 9Any of various dark animals:
- 10Any of various dark animals:
- 11An 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.
- 12A strong iron-bound timber with sharp teeth or spikes protruding from its front face, forming part of the machinery of a sawmill, and used in canting logs, etc.
- 13A 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.
- 14A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects.
Etymology
Borrowed 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).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ingger,ngiger,nigegr,niggerr,niggre,nnigger
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nigger - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “nigger”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-G-G-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “nugget” - see the side-by-side comparison. nigger vs nugget
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.