nigger

English

/ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/, /ˈnɪɡɚ/

noun
Definitions
  • (offensive) A black person; a person of black African descent.
  • (offensive) A member of another typically dark-skinned people now especially in combinations, e.g. m.
  • (AAVE)
  • (AAVE)
  • (now) A fish, the luderick (Girella tricuspidata).
  • (now) A dark brown butterfly, .
  • (archaic) 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.
  • (UK) A kind of sea cucumber, , the cotton spinner.
  • (archaic) The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest.
  • (archaic) 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.
  • (archaic) 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.
  • (film) A black screen used in conjunction with the camera to block light or produce special lighting effects.

Etymology

Borrowed from French nègre (black, nigger, black person) derived from Portuguese negro (black, a black African) derived from Latin niger (black, dark, shining black).

Origin

Latin

niger

Gloss

black, dark, shining black

Concept
Semantic Field

Sense perception

Ontological Category

Property

Kanji

Emoji
🐃 🐈‍⬛ 🕋 🖤 🦓

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms