Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

nigger

UK /ˈnɪɡə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈnɪɡɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun

Forms niggers niggering niggered n****r n-word nigga niggah nigguh

  1. noun (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, see usage notes) A black person; a person of black African descent.
  2. noun (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, slang) A person of black African descent who behaves badly or unconventionally (whether the speaker approves or disapproves).
  3. noun (offensive, ethnic slur, vulgar, see usage notes) A member of any typically dark-skinned people (now especially in combinations like prairie nigger or sand nigger).
  4. noun (African-American Vernacular) A friend, particularly a fellow black person (often as an informal term of address).
  5. noun (figurative, especially African-American Vernacular, otherwise offensive) A person of any kind (particularly as a term of abuse).
  6. noun (especially in comparisons, now offensive) A member of a group that is oppressed or marginalized in the manner of black people.
  7. noun (now offensive) Any member of species Girella tricuspidata (luderick).
  8. noun (now offensive, dated) A dark brown nymphalid butterfly, Orsotriaena medus, of south Asia, southeast Asia, and Australia.
  9. verb (transitive, dated) To clear land by laying light pieces of round timber across the trunks of the trees and setting fire to them at the point of contact, by which means the trees are slowly burned through.
  10. verb (transitive, dated) To exhaust (soil) by cropping it year by year without manure.
  11. verb (intransitive, now offensive) To perform in blackface.
  12. verb (intransitive, offensive) To behave as a stereotypical black person.
  13. verb (uncommon, transitive, offensive) To treat as inferior.
  14. proper noun (historical, now offensive) A given name for a black pet.
  15. proper noun (highly offensive, derogatory) Niger (nation).

Synonyms

homie nigga blackie bootlip brillo pad coon darkie groid jigaboo jogger jungle bunny kaffir moon cricket nig-nog porch monkey Sambo shitskin smoked Irishman spade spearchucker nigra

Etymology

Alteration of earlier neger, 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).

In reference to the color black, from nigger.

Blend of Niger + nigger.

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun A negro; --in vulgar derision or depreciation.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nigger”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details