# nigger

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #18,375

## Definitions
1. A black person; a person of black African descent.
2. A black person; a person of black African descent.
3. 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. A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse).
6. A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people.
7. Any of various dark animals:
8. Any of various dark animals:
9. Any of various dark animals:
10. Any of various dark animals:
11. 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.
12. A 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.
13. A 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.
14. A 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).

## Easily confused with
- **nugget** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nigger-vs-nugget)
- **nighter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nigger-vs-nighter)
- **Nigel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nigel-vs-nigger)
- **nigga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nigga-vs-nigger)
- **Niger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/niger-vs-nigger)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ingger`, `ngiger`, `nigegr`, `niggerr`, `niggre`, `nnigger`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/nigger