Etymology

From Latin niger, black

English

Pronunciation

• nĭg'ə(r), /ˈnɪɡə(r)/, /"nIg@(r)/

  Rhymes: -ɪɡə(r)

Usage Note

Although this word comes from the Latin word niger, which simply means black, the use of this word to refer to a black or a person of African descent is normally considered pejorative (most often extremely, highly, or strongly so). The word is, however, used by some black people as a neutral or even affirmative term when used in the form of "nigga".

When used by someone who is not black, nigger is almost invariably considered offensive. In its pejorative sense, it arguably ranks as the most offensive and insulting racial/ethnic term in English, carrying with it strong connotations of cultural, aesthetic, and intellectual inferiority or deficiency (such connotations of deficiency extending to a perception of exoticism). Indeed, the term can be callously cruel: with its most conceivably creatively pejorative uses (e.g., if a non-black were to hurl the term at a random black in a wincing and forceful way), the term can be loaded with meanings that all exude a perception of a highly deficient and exotic thinghood at its target, as unfair and false as the perceptions may be.

Changing attitudes and realizations towards those of black origin (e.g., realizing that blacks are not intellectually, or in other ways, inferior to other races; acknowledgement of highly significant cultural contributions made by blacks; civil rights advances made by blacks) has made the writing of this word taboo in many instances, or if it is written, it is often obfuscated as "N_____", "N****r", etc.

Noun

nigger (niggers)

1. (normally extremely, highly, or strongly offensive, often considered vulgar, but see usage note) a dark-skinned person, especially a person of, or primarily of, Negro descent.

Translations

negro person