nigger, n. and adj. (OED)

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈnɪɡə/ , U.S. /ˈnɪɡər/

Etymology: Probably an alteration of neger n., after classical Latin niger (see niger n.¹); compare earlier Nigro n., Nigrite n.¹ Compare post-classical Latin niger black person (1582 in a Spanish colonial source). Compare also Swedish †niger (1758), probably a borrowing from English (although this may perhaps represent a borrowing of neger n.).

Some early examples of the form niger (especially in learned use) may perhaps represent a direct reborrowing of classical Latin niger black (see niger n.¹).

Forms in -gg- (see β forms) are rare before the 19th cent., and the prevalence of a pronunciation with /ɪ/ in the first syllable is therefore hard to establish. However, it seems likely that the form niger (the preferred form up to the end of the 18th cent.) is intended to represent the same pronunciation (as sporadic later examples of this form clearly are).

The resurgence of the form nigga (plural often niggaz ) and other forms without final -r in late 20th-cent. use (especially in representations of urban African-American speech) is probably due to its deliberate adoption by some speakers as a distinct word, associated with neutral or positive senses (especially senses A. 1c, A. 4, A. 5, and A. 7); compare quot. 2001 at sense A. 7. Compare gangsta n. and adj.

The word was initially used as a neutral term, and only began to acquire a derogatory connotation from the mid-18th cent. onwards (compare sense A. 1b). In standard English usage the word Negro n. had already become the usual neutral term by the end of the 17th cent.

For coincidence of the word in some dialects with niggard n. compare γ forms and etymological note at that entry.

With the phrase to work like a nigger (see Phrases 1) compare French travailler comme un nègre (1811). The phrase nigger in the woodpile (see Phrases 2b) is said to derive from an incident in the U.S. in the time before the American Civil War when a group of escaped slaves who had been conveyed along the Underground Railroad to Pultneyville, New York State, with a view to crossing Lake Ontario into Canada were enabled to make the final stage from a warehouse in which they were hidden to a boat by means of woodpiles set up across the wharf through which a concealed passage had been constructed (see further N.Y. Folklore Q. (1958) 14 16–25).

A. n.

I. Senses referring to people.

1. A dark-skinned person of sub-Saharan African origin or descent; = Negro n. 1a.This term is strongly racially offensive when used by a white person in reference to a black person. In written Black English and written representations of spoken Black English, however, there are usually not the same negative connotations. Recently the term has been reclaimed by some black speakers and used with positive connotations in various senses (esp. in the form nigga: see note in etymology, and senses A. 1c, A. 4, and A. 5). However, even among black speakers, use of the word is problematic because of its potential to give offence, as is clear from the following, from a black speaker:

1995 N.Y. Times 14 Jan. i. 7 The prosecutor, his voice trembling, added that the ‘N-word’ was so vile that he would not utter it. ‘It's the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language,’ Mr. Darden said.