niggard

n. 吝啬鬼 a. 吝啬的, 小气的

发音

US /ˈnɪɡɚd/
其它
UK /ˈnɪɡəd/

词形变化

niggards 复数 niggards niggarded niggarding niggards 三单 niggarding 现在分词 niggarded 过去式 niggarded 过去分词 more niggard 比较级 most niggard 最高级

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.

    ‘No niggard are you, Éomer,’ said Aragorn, ‘to give thus to Gondor the fairest thing in your realm!’

  2. 2.

    A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.

    1833, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Godolphin It was evening: he ordered a fire and lights; and, leaning his face on his hand as he contemplated the fitful and dusky upbreakings of the flame through the bars of the niggard and contracted grate […]

    1851, From a catalog of the Great Exhibition Cooking apparatus, adapted for an opening eight feet wide, by five feet high, and containing an open-fire roasting range, with sliding spit-racks and winding cheek or niggard;

v.
  1. 1.

    To hoard; to act stingily.

    不及物
adj.
  1. 1.

    Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.

  2. 2.

    Miserly or stingy.

词汇关系

名词

同义词 3

scrooge churl skinflint

上位词 1

hoarder

下位词 1

pinch-gut

词源

From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), from nig (“niggardly person”), possibly of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Icelandic hnøggr (“miserly, stingy”), Old Norse *hniggw, with descendants Swedish njugg (“stingy”), dialectal Swedish niggla (“be stingy”), dialectal Norwegian nigla. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hnauwjaz, source of Old English hneaw (“stingy”), replaced by Middle English nig. Possibly cognate to niggle (“miser”). Compare German Knicker (“niggard”), knickerig (“niggardly”). Unrelated to the word nigger, but see the usage notes.

来源：wiktionary