Controversies about the word niggardly

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In the United States, there have been several controversies involving the misunderstanding of the word niggardly, an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", because of its phonetic similarity to the term nigger, an ethnic slur used against black people. Although the two words are etymologically unrelated, niggard is nonetheless often replaced with a synonym. Niggard, arising in the Middle Ages, long predates nigger, which arose in the 18th century.

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