Editing Nigger

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Nigger''}}
{{Short description|Racial slur against black people}}
{{Hatnote group|
{{Distinguish|Negro|Niger|Niger State}}
{{For|the colloquial slang term|Nigga}}}}
{{Redirect|N-word||N-word (disambiguation)|and|Nigger (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}

In the [[English language]], '''''nigger''''' is a [[racial slur]] directed at [[black people]]. Starting in the 1990s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=n-word&year_start=1900 |title=Google Ngram |website=Google Ngram |access-date=January 18, 2024 |archive-date=January 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118170037/https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=n-word&year_start=1900 |url-status=live }}</ref> references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the [[euphemistic]] contraction {{nowrap|"'''the N-word'''"}}, notably in cases where ''nigger'' is [[Use–mention distinction|mentioned but not directly used]].<ref name=":0">[[Oxford English Dictionary Online]], s.v. ''nigger, n. and adj''.; ''neger, n.'' ''and adj''.; ''N-word, n''.</ref> In an instance of [[linguistic reappropriation]], the term ''nigger'' is also used casually and fraternally among African Americans, most commonly in the form of ''[[nigga]]'', whose spelling reflects the [[phonology]] of [[African-American English]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Rahman |first=Jacquelyn |date=2012 |title=The N Word: Its History and Use in the African American Community |journal=Journal of English Linguistics |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=137–171 |doi=10.1177/0075424211414807 |s2cid=144164210 |issn=0075-4242}}</ref>

The origin of the word lies with the [[Latin]] adjective ''[[wikt:niger#Latin|niger]]'' ([ˈnɪɡɛr]), meaning "black".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> It was initially seen as a relatively neutral term, essentially synonymous with the English word ''[[negro]]''. Early attested uses during the [[Atlantic slave trade]] (16th–19th century) often conveyed a merely patronizing attitude. The word took on a [[pejorative|derogatory connotation]] from the mid-18th century onward, and "degenerated into an overt slur" by the middle of the 19th century. Some authors still used the term in a neutral sense up until the later part of the 20th century, at which point the use of ''nigger'' became increasingly controversial regardless of its context or intent.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/john-mcwhorter-n-word-unsayable.html|title=Opinion &#124; How the N-Word Became Unsayable|first=John|last=McWhorter|work=The New York Times|date=April 30, 2021|via=NYTimes.com|access-date=March 22, 2023|archive-date=June 11, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611014642/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/john-mcwhorter-n-word-unsayable.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Because the word ''nigger'' has historically "wreaked symbolic violence, often accompanied by physical violence",<ref name=":1" /> it began to disappear from general popular culture from the second half of the 20th century onward, with the exception of cases derived from [[In-group and out-group|intra-group usage]] such as [[hip-hop culture]].<ref name=":1" /> The ''[[Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]]'' describes the term as "perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English".<ref name=":1" /> The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' writes that "this word is one of the most controversial in English, and is liable to be considered offensive or taboo in almost all contexts (even when used as a self-description)".<ref name=":0" /> At the [[Murder trial of O. J. Simpson|trial of O. J. Simpson]], prosecutor [[Christopher Darden]] referred to it as "the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language".<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilson|first=Cherry|date=5 October 2020|title=N-word: The troubled history of the racial slur|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749800.amp|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref> Intra-group usage has been criticized by some contemporary Black American authors, a group of them (the ''eradicationists'') calling for the total abandonment of its usage (even under the variant ''nigga''), which they see as contributing to the "construction of an identity founded on self-hate".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Asim |first=Jabari |title=The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why |date=2008 |publisher=HMH |isbn=978-0-547-52494-8}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> In wider society, the inclusion of the word ''nigger'' in classic works of literature (as in [[Mark Twain]]'s 1884 book ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'') and in more recent cultural productions (such as [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s 1994 film ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' and 2012 film ''[[Django Unchained]]'') has sparked controversy and ongoing debate.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |date=2002 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=978-0-9650397-7-2 |pages=36–37; 91–111}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Allan |first=Keith |date=2015 |title=When is a Slur Not a Slur? The Use of Nigger in 'Pulp Fiction' |journal=Language Sciences |volume=52 |pages=187–199 |doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2015.03.001| issn=0388-0001}}</ref>

The word ''nigger'' has also been historically used to designate "any person considered to be of low social status" (as in the expression ''[[white nigger]]'') or "any person whose behavior is regarded as reprehensible". In some cases, with awareness of the word's offensive connotation, but without intention to cause offense, it can refer to a "victim of prejudice likened to that endured by African Americans" (as in [[John Lennon]]'s 1972 song "[[Woman Is the Nigger of the World]]").<ref name=":0" />

==Etymology and history==
{{further|Negro}}

===Early use===
The word ''nigger'', then spelled in English ''neger'' or ''niger'', appeared in the 16th century as an adaptation of French ''[[wiktionary:nègre|nègre]]'', itself from Spanish ''[[wiktionary:negro#Spanish|negro]]''. They go back to the [[Latin]] adjective ''[[wiktionary:niger#Latin|niger]]'' ([ˈnɪɡɛr]), meaning "black".<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Rahman |first=Jacquelyn |date=2012 |title=The N Word: Its History and Use in the African American Community |journal=Journal of English Linguistics |language=en |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=137–171 |doi=10.1177/0075424211414807 |issn=0075-4242}}</ref><ref name=":02">[[Oxford English Dictionary Online]], s.v. ''nigger, n. and adj''.; ''neger, n.'' ''and adj''.; ''N-word, n''.</ref><!--Romance language nouns (typically) derive from the accusative case, not the nominative case quoted in English.-->

In its original English-language usage, ''nigger'' (also spelled ''niger'') was a word for a dark-skinned individual. The earliest known published use of the term dates from 1574, in a work alluding to "the Nigers of [[Aethiopia|Aethiop]], bearing witnes".<ref>{{cite book |author=Patricia T. O'Conner |author2=Stewart Kellerman |title=Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language |date=2010 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8129-7810-0 |page=134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hsu47CBwJPUC&pg=PA134 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |archive-date=October 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016202235/https://books.google.com/books?id=hsu47CBwJPUC&pg=PA134 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], the first derogatory usage of the term ''nigger'' was recorded two centuries later, in 1775.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=Christopher |title=Bestial Traces:Race, Sexuality, Animality: Race, Sexuality, Animality |date=2013 |publisher=Fordham Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8232-4520-8 |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Z54563cYpoC&pg=PA91 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |archive-date=October 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016202223/https://books.google.com/books?id=_Z54563cYpoC&pg=PA91 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[colonial America]] of 1619, [[John Rolfe]] used ''negars'' in describing the African slaves shipped to the [[Virginia colony]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Kennedy |date=January 11, 2001 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=November 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123115941/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm |url-status=live }} (Book review)</ref> Later [[American English]] spellings, ''neger'' and ''neggar'', prevailed in [[New Netherland|New York under the Dutch]] and in [[Moravian Church in North America|metropolitan Philadelphia's Moravian]] and [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] communities; the [[African Burial Ground]] in New York City originally was known by the Dutch name {{lang|nl|Begraafplaats van de Neger}} (Cemetery of the Negro). An early occurrence of ''neger'' in American English dates from 1625 in [[Rhode Island]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutchinson |first=Earl Ofari |author-link=Earl Ofari Hutchinson |title=The Assassination of the Black Male Image |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1996 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tL2dpZGqIrIC&pg=PA82 |isbn=978-0-684-83100-8 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130533/https://books.google.com/books?id=tL2dpZGqIrIC&pg=PA82#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Lexicography|Lexicographer]] [[Noah Webster]] suggested the ''neger'' spelling in place of ''negro'' in his 1806 dictionary.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.bartleby.com/185/|title=The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States|last=Mencken|first=H. L.|publisher=A.A. Knopf|year=1921|edition=2nd rev. and enl.|location=New York|chapter=Chapter 8. American Spelling > 2. The Influence of Webster|author-link=H. L. Mencken|chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/185/32.html|access-date=August 8, 2007|archive-date=February 6, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206121229/http://www.bartleby.com/185/|url-status=live}}<!--|isbn=978-1-58734-087-1 from Bartleby is not correct--></ref>

===18th- and 19th-century United States===
[[File:Run, nigger, run, or the M. P. 'll catch you.jpg|left|thumb|Lyrics for the song "[[Run, Nigger, Run]]", about a [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|fugitive]] slave escaping from a [[slave patrol]], printed in 1851]]
During the late 18th and early 19th century, the word "nigger" also described an actual labor category, which African American laborers adopted for themselves as a social identity, and thus white people used the descriptor word as a distancing or derogatory epithet, as if "quoting black people" and their non-standard language.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stordeur Pryor |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Etymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |date=Summer 2016 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=203–245 |doi=10.1353/jer.2016.0028 |s2cid=148122937 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/620987 |access-date=February 26, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415191429/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/620987 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} = {{cite journal |last1=Stordeur Pryor |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Etymology of Nigger: Resistance, Language, and the Politics of Freedom in the Antebellum North |journal=Smith ScholarWorks |date=Summer 2016 |publisher=Smith College |location=Northampton, Massachusetts |pages=203–245, especially 206 f |url=https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=hst_facpubs |access-date=February 26, 2021 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314030732/https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=hst_facpubs |url-status=live }}</ref> During the early 1800s to the late 1840s [[North American fur trade#Fur trade in the western United States|fur trade in the Western United States]], the word was spelled "niggur", and is often recorded in the literature of the time. [[George Ruxton]] used it in his "[[mountain man]]" lexicon, without pejorative [[connotation]]. "Niggur" was evidently similar to the modern use of "[[dude]]" or "guy". This passage from Ruxton's ''Life in the Far West'' illustrates the word in spoken form—the speaker here referring to himself: "Travler, marm, this niggur's no travler; I ar' a trapper, marm, a mountain-man, wagh!"<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruxton |first=George Frederick |title=Life In the Far West |year=1846 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-1534-4}}</ref> It was not used as a term exclusively for blacks among mountain men during this period, as Indians, Mexicans, and Frenchmen and Anglos alike could be a "niggur".<ref>{{cite web |title=Language of the Rendezvous |url=http://www.coon-n-crockett.org/cnc~glos.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119031856/http://www.coon-n-crockett.org/cnc~glos.htm |archive-date=November 19, 2012 |access-date=September 6, 2012 }}</ref> "The noun slipped back and forth from derogatory to endearing."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coleman |first1=Jon |title=Here Lies Hugh Glass: A Mountain Man, a Bear, and the Rise of the American Nation |url=http://us.macmillan.com/herelieshughglass/jontcoleman |date=2012 |publisher=Macmillan |page=272 |access-date=November 21, 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

By 1859, the term was clearly used to offend, in an attack on [[John Brown (abolitionist)|abolitionist John Brown]].<ref>{{cite news
|title=A new version of an old song. Illustrating the growth of Public Sentiment [Old John Brown, he had a little nigger]
|newspaper=[[The National Era]] (Washington, D.C.)|date=November 10, 1859|page=3|via=[[newspapers.com]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97344558/old-john-brown-he-had-a-little-nigger/|access-date=March 11, 2022
|archive-date=January 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230101220431/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97344558/old-john-brown-he-had-a-little-nigger/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The term "[[colored]]" or "negro" became a respectful alternative. In 1851, the [[Boston Vigilance Committee]], an [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist organization]], posted warnings to the ''Colored People of Boston and vicinity''. Writing in 1904, journalist [[Clifton Johnson (author)|Clifton Johnson]] documented the "opprobrious" character of the word ''nigger'', emphasizing that it was chosen in the South precisely because it was more offensive than "colored" or "negro".<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Clifton |date=October 14, 1904 |title=They Are Only "Niggers" in the South |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025811/1904-10-14/ed-1/seq-5/ |newspaper=The Seattle Republican |location=Seattle, Wash. |publisher=Republican Pub. Co. |access-date=January 23, 2011 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721044934/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025811/1904-10-14/ed-1/seq-5/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By the turn of the century, "colored" had become sufficiently mainstream that it was chosen as the racial self-identifier for the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP). In 2008 Carla Sims, its communications director, said "the term 'colored' is not derogatory, [the NAACP] chose the word 'colored' because it was the most positive description commonly used [in 1909, when the association was founded]. It's outdated and antiquated but not offensive."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/11/12/lohan-calls-obama-colored-naacp-says-no-big-deal#ftnb |title=Lohan calls Obama 'colored', NAACP says no big deal |newspaper=Mercury News |date=November 12, 2008 |access-date=May 12, 2016 |archive-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110133214/http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2008/11/12/lohan-calls-obama-colored-naacp-says-no-big-deal/#ftnb |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Mark Twain]], in the autobiographic book ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]'' (1883), used the term within quotes, indicating [[reported speech]], but used the term "negro" when writing in his own [[Comic persona|narrative persona]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Twain |first=Mark |title=Life on the Mississippi |journal=Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges |publisher=James R. Osgood & Co., Boston (U.S. edition) |year=1883 |volume=75 |issue=10 |page=11,13,127,139,219 |doi=10.1097/00001888-200010000-00016 |pmid=11031147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBWbSj-r4U4C&pg=PA11 |isbn=978-0-486-41426-3}}</ref> [[Joseph Conrad]] published a novella in Britain with the title ''[[The Nigger of the "Narcissus"]]'' (1897); in the United States, it was released as ''The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle''; the original had been called "the ugliest conceivable title" in a British review<ref>{{Cite journal|last=GOONETILLEKE|first=D.C.R.A.|date=2011|title=Racism and "The Nigger of the "Narcissus""|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24669418|journal=Conradiana|volume=43|issue=2/3|pages=51–66|jstor=24669418|issn=0010-6356|access-date=February 6, 2022|archive-date=February 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206024508/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24669418|url-status=live}}</ref> and American reviewers understood the change as reflecting American "refinement" and "prudery."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=RUDE|first1=DONALD W.|last2=DAVIS|first2=KENNETH W.|title=The Critical Reception of the First American Edition of "The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'"|date=1992|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20874005|journal=The Conradian|volume=16|issue=2|pages=46–56|jstor=20874005|issn=0951-2314|access-date=February 6, 2022|archive-date=February 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206024508/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20874005|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:TheChildrenOfTheSea.jpg|thumb|The US edition of Joseph Conrad's ''[[The Nigger of the "Narcissus"]]'' was called ''The Children of the Sea''.]]

===20th-century United States===
A style guide to [[British English]] usage, [[H.W. Fowler]]'s ''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]'', states in the first edition (1926) that applying the word ''nigger'' to "others than full or partial negroes" is "felt as an insult by the person described, & betrays in the speaker, if not deliberate insolence, at least a very arrogant inhumanity"; but the second edition (1965) states "N. has been described as 'the term that carries with it all the obloquy and contempt and rejection which whites have inflicted on blacks'".<ref>Henry W. Fowler, Ernest Gowers: ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage''. Oxford University Press, 1965. Compare the [https://www.etymonline.com/word/nigger entry "nigger (n.)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426155516/https://www.etymonline.com/word/nigger |date=April 26, 2021 }}, in: ''Online etymology dictionary''.</ref> The quoted formula goes back to the writings of the American journalist [[Harold R. Isaacs]], who used it in several writings between 1963 and 1975.<ref>Harold R. Isaacs in: ''Encounter'', vol. 21, 1963, p. 9 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=nCsdAQAAMAAJ&q=the%20term%20that%20carries%20with%20it%20all%20the%20obloquy%20and%20contempt%20and%20rejection%20which%20whites%20have%20inflicted%20on%20blacks Google Books]). Compare Harold R. Isaacs: ''Idols of the Tribe: Group Identity and Political Change''. Harvard University Press, 1989, p. 88 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=0Kne87aU7D0C&dq=the+term+that+carries+with+it+all+the+obloquy+and+contempt+and+rejection+which+whites+have+inflicted+on+blacks&pg=PA88 Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331170327/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Kne87aU7D0C&dq=the+term+that+carries+with+it+all+the+obloquy+and+contempt+and+rejection+which+whites+have+inflicted+on+blacks&pg=PA88 |date=March 31, 2023 }}).</ref> Black characters in [[Nella Larsen]]'s 1929 novel [[Passing (novel)|''Passing'']] view its use as offensive; one says "I'm really not such an idiot that I don't realize that if a man calls me a nigger, it's his fault the first time, but mine if he has the opportunity to do it again."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sullivan |first=Nell |date=1998 |title=Nella Larsen's Passing and the Fading Subject |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3042239 |journal=African American Review |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=373–386 |doi=10.2307/3042239 |issn=1062-4783 |jstor=3042239 |access-date=February 6, 2022 |archive-date=February 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206025815/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3042239 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

By the late 1960s, the social change brought about by the [[civil rights movement]] had legitimized the [[identity politics|racial identity]] word ''black'' as mainstream American English usage to denote black-skinned Americans of African ancestry. President [[Thomas Jefferson]] had used this word of his slaves in his ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]'' (1785), but "black" had not been widely used until the later 20th century. (See [[Black Pride|black pride]], and, in the context of worldwide anti-colonialism initiatives, ''[[Négritude]]''.)

In the 1980s, the term "[[African American]]" was advanced analogously to such terms as "[[German American]]" and "[[Irish American]]", and was adopted by major media outlets. Moreover, as a [[compound word]], ''African American'' resembles the [[vogue word]] ''Afro-American'', an early-1970s popular usage. Some Black Americans continue to use the word ''nigger'', often spelled as ''[[nigga]]'' and ''niggah'', without irony, either to neutralize the word's impact or as a sign of solidarity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Allan|first=Keith |author-link=Keith Allan (linguist) |title=The pragmatics of connotation |journal=Journal of Pragmatics |volume=39|issue=6 |date=June 2007 |pages=1047–1057|doi=10.1016/j.pragma.2006.08.004}}</ref>

==Usage==
Surveys from 2006 showed that the American public widely perceived usage of the term to be wrong or unacceptable, but that nearly half of whites and two-thirds of blacks knew someone personally who referred to blacks by the term.<ref name="Tesler">{{Cite news |last=Tesler |first=Michael |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/06/25/using-the-n-word-is-more-common-than-you-or-president-obama-may-think/ |title=Using the n-word is more common than you (or President Obama) may think |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 25, 2015 |access-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816061712/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/06/25/using-the-n-word-is-more-common-than-you-or-president-obama-may-think/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Nearly one-third of whites and two-thirds of blacks said they had personally used the term within the last five years.<ref name="Tesler" />

===In names of people, places and things===
{{Main|Use of nigger in proper names}}

===Political use===
[[File:Why the nigger is not fit to vote.jpg|thumb|Historical American cartoon titled "Why the nigger is not fit to vote", by [[Thomas Nast]], arguing the reason Democrats objected to African-Americans having the vote was that, in the [[1868 United States presidential election|1868 US presidential election]], African-Americans voted for the Republican candidates [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and [[Schuyler Colfax]]. "Seymour friends meet here" in the background is a reference to the Democratic Party candidate: [[Horatio Seymour]].]]

"[[Niggers in the White House]]"<ref name="Niggers in the White House">{{cite web|url=http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record.aspx?libID=o284393|publisher=Theodore Roosevelt Center, [[Dickinson State University]]|title=Niggers in the White House|access-date=September 12, 2013|archive-date=March 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331161158/https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record.aspx?libID=o284393|url-status=live}}</ref> was written in reaction to [[Booker T. Washington dinner at the White House|an October 1901 White House dinner]] hosted by Republican President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who had invited [[Booker T. Washington]]—an African-American presidential advisor—as a guest. The poem reappeared in 1929 after First Lady [[Lou Henry Hoover|Lou Hoover]], wife of President [[Herbert Hoover]], invited [[Jessie De Priest]], the wife of African-American congressman [[Oscar De Priest]], to [[Jessie De Priest tea at the White House|a tea for congressmen's wives at the White House]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stephen A.|last2=Freedman|first2=Eric|title=Presidents and Black America: A Documentary History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBRKYgEACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=CQ Press|location=Los Angeles|isbn=9781608710089|page=349|access-date=July 25, 2020|archive-date=September 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130429/https://books.google.com/books?id=mBRKYgEACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The identity of the author—who used the byline "unchained poet"—remains unknown.

In explaining his refusal to be [[Conscription in the United States#Vietnam War|conscripted to fight the Vietnam War]] (1955–1975), professional boxer [[Muhammad Ali]] said, "No [[Vietcong]] ever called me nigger."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Kennedy |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |publisher=Random House |year=2002 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yb8LmupcLdkC&pg=PA28 |isbn=978-0-375-42172-3 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130432/https://books.google.com/books?id=yb8LmupcLdkC&pg=PA28#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, his modified answer was the title of a documentary, ''No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger'' (1968), about the front-line lot of the U.S. Army black soldier in combat in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rollins |first=Peter C. |title=The Columbia Companion to American History on Film: How the Movies Have Portrayed the American Past |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2003 |page=341 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xB1rhm6Ke2UC&pg=PA341 |isbn=978-0-231-11222-2 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130433/https://books.google.com/books?id=xB1rhm6Ke2UC&pg=PA341#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> An Ali biographer reports that, when interviewed by [[Robert Lipsyte]] in 1966, the boxer actually said, "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lemert |first=Charles |title=Muhammad Ali: Trickster in the Culture of Irony |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2003 |pages=105–107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MI1cTZGcDVgC&pg=PA105 |isbn=978-0-7456-2871-4 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130531/https://books.google.com/books?id=MI1cTZGcDVgC&pg=PA105 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On February 28, 2007, the [[New York City Council]] symbolically banned the use of the word ''nigger''; however, there is no penalty for using it. This formal resolution also requests excluding from [[Grammy Award]] consideration every song whose lyrics contain the word; however, Ron Roecker, vice president of communication for the Recording Academy, doubted it will have any effect on actual nominations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/usa/story/0,,2023817,00.html |title=New York city council bans use of the N-word |last=Pilkington |first=Ed |date=March 1, 2007 |work=The Guardian |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130535/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/01/usa.edpilkington |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Res%200693-2007.htm?CFID=425440&CFTOKEN=70865698 |title=Res. No. 693-A – Resolution declaring the NYC Council's symbolic moratorium against using the 'N' word in New York City |publisher=New York City Council |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308044117/http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Res%200693-2007.htm?CFID=425440&CFTOKEN=70865698 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The word can be invoked politically for effect. When Detroit mayor [[Kwame Kilpatrick]] came under intense scrutiny for his conduct in 2008, he deviated from an address to the city council, saying, "In the past 30 days, I've been called a nigger more than any time in my entire life." Opponents accused him of "playing the [[race card]]" to save his political life.<ref name="COXreaction">{{cite news |last=French |first=Ron |date=March 13, 2008 |url=http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/METRO/803130408 |title=Attorney General Cox: Kilpatrick should resign |access-date=March 13, 2008 |work=The Detroit News}}{{dead link|date=February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/attorney_general_mike_cox_call.html|title=Attorney General Mike Cox calls for Kwame Kilpatrick's resignation|date=March 13, 2008|publisher=Advance Local Media}}</ref>

===Cultural use===
{{Main|Use of nigger in the arts}}

The [[implicit racism]] of the word ''nigger'' has generally rendered its use [[taboo]]. Magazines and newspapers typically do not use this word but instead print censored versions such as "n*gg*r", "n**ger", "n——" or "the N-word";<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigger |title=''Nigger'' Usage Alert |dictionary=[[Dictionary.com]] |access-date=July 23, 2015 |archive-date=July 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721100920/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigger |url-status=live }}</ref> see [[#The N-word euphemism|below]].

[[File:MrBradish.jpg|thumb|1885 illustration from [[Mark Twain]]'s ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', captioned "Misto Bradish's nigger"]]
The use of ''nigger'' in older literature has become controversial because of the word's modern meaning as a racist insult. One of the most enduring controversies has been the word's use in [[Mark Twain]]'s novel ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' (1885). ''Huckleberry Finn'' was the fifth most challenged book during the 1990s, according to the [[American Library Association]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_1999/index.cfm |title=100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999 |publisher=American Library Association |date=March 27, 2013 |access-date=April 2, 2011 |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112170406/http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_1999/index.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The novel is written from the point of view, and largely in the language, of an uneducated white boy, who is drifting down the Mississippi River on a raft with an adult escaped slave, Jim. The word "nigger" is used (mostly about Jim) over 200 times.<ref>{{cite web |title=Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |work=The Complete Works of Mark Twain |url=http://www.mtwain.com/Adventures_Of_Huckleberry_Finn/ |access-date=March 12, 2006 |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909212120/http://www.mtwain.com/Adventures_Of_Huckleberry_Finn/ |archive-date=September 9, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Academic Resources: Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |work=Random House |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375713712&view=tg |access-date=March 13, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122142322/http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375713712&view=tg |archive-date=January 22, 2007 }} [https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780375713712 Alternative URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715171506/https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780375713712 |date=July 15, 2020 }}</ref> Twain's advocates note that the novel is composed in then-contemporary vernacular usage, not racist stereotype, because Jim, the black man, is a sympathetic character.

In 2011, a new edition published by [[NewSouth Books]] replaced the word ''nigger'' with ''slave'' and also removed the word ''[[injun]]''. The change was spearheaded by Twain scholar [[Alan Gribben]] in the hope of "countering the 'pre-emptive censorship{{'"}} that results from the book's being removed from school curricula over language concerns.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jan/05/huckleberry-finn-edition-censors-n-word |title=New Huckleberry Finn edition censors 'n-word' |work=The Guardian|date=January 5, 2011 |last=Page |first=Benedicte |access-date=February 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Twain |first=Mark |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838,00.html?iid=moreontime |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110133900/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838,00.html?iid=moreontime |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 10, 2011 |title='The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' – Removing the N Word from Huck Finn: Top 10 Censored Books |magazine=Time |date=January 7, 2011 |access-date=January 23, 2011}}</ref> The changes sparked outrage from critics [[Elon James]], [[Alexandra Petri]] and [[Chris Meadows]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0105/The-n-word-gone-from-Huck-Finn-what-would-Mark-Twain-say |title=The 'n'-word gone from Huck Finn – what would Mark Twain say? |last=Kehe |first=Marjorie |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=January 5, 2011 |access-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430202839/http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0105/The-n-word-gone-from-Huck-Finn-what-would-Mark-Twain-say |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his 1999 memoir ''All Souls'', Irish-American [[Michael Patrick MacDonald]] describes how many white residents of the [[Old Colony Housing Project]] in [[South Boston]] used this meaning to degrade the people considered to be of lower status, whether white or black.<ref>{{cite book|last=MacDonald|first=Michael Patrick|author-link=Michael Patrick MacDonald|title=All Souls: A Family Story from Southie |publisher=Random House |year=2000|page=61 |isbn=978-0-345-44177-5}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Of course, no one considered himself a nigger. It was always something you called someone who could be considered anything less than you. I soon found out there were a few black families living in Old Colony. They'd lived there for years and everyone said that they were okay, that they weren't niggers but just black. It felt good to all of us to not be as bad as the hopeless people in D Street or, God forbid, the ones in Columbia Point, who were both black and niggers. But now I was jealous of the kids in Old Harbor Project down the road, which seemed like a step up from Old Colony{{nbs}}...}}

===In an academic setting===
The word's usage in literature has led to it being a point of discussion in university lectures as well. In 2008, [[Arizona State University]] English professor Neal A. Lester created what has been called "the first ever college-level class designed to explore the word 'nigger{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2011/straight-talk-about-the-nword|title=Straight talk about the N-word|first=Sean|last=Price|work=Teaching Tolerance|year=2011|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=December 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210104913/https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2011/straight-talk-about-the-nword|url-status=live}}</ref> Starting in the following decade, colleges struggled with attempts to teach material about the slur in a sensitive manner. In 2012, a sixth grade Chicago teacher Lincoln Brown was suspended after repeating the contents of a racially charged note being passed around in class. Brown later filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the headmaster and the Chicago public schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/can-educators-ever-teach-the-n-word/253345/|title=Can educators ever teach the N-word?|first=Wendy|last=Kaminer|work=The Atlantic|date=February 21, 2012|access-date=December 24, 2021|archive-date=December 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215190625/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/can-educators-ever-teach-the-n-word/253345/|url-status=live}}</ref> A New Orleans high school also experienced controversy in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/05/us/teacher-student-n-word-exchange/index.html|title=School reflects on race after student-teacher N-word exchange|first=Donie|last=O'Sullivan|work=CNN|date=May 5, 2017|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020811/http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/05/us/teacher-student-n-word-exchange/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Such increased attention prompted Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, the daughter of [[Richard Pryor]] and a professor at [[Smith College]], to give a talk opining that the word was leading to a "social crisis" in higher education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegram.com/news/20190919/elizabeth-stordeur-pryor-says-use-of-n-word-is-causing-social-crisis|title=Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor says use of the N-word is causing social crisis|work=Telegram & Gazette|first=Cyrus|last=Moulton|date=September 19, 2019|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=December 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218042632/https://www.telegram.com/news/20190919/elizabeth-stordeur-pryor-says-use-of-n-word-is-causing-social-crisis|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition to Smith College, [[Emory University]], [[Augsburg University]], [[Southern Connecticut State University]], and [[Simpson College]] all suspended professors in 2019 over referring to the word "nigger" by name in classroom settings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abovethelaw.com/2019/10/the-original-emory-law-school-n-word-using-professor-faces-a-hearing-on-his-future-today/|title=The original Emory Law School N-word using professor faces hearing on his future today|first=Joe|last=Patrice|work=Above The Law|date=October 4, 2019|access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecollegefix.com/universities-repeatedly-discipline-professors-for-referring-to-the-n-word/|title=Universities repeatedly discipline professors for referring to the n-word|first=Matthew|last=Stein|website=The College Fix|date=April 11, 2019|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=September 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929154736/https://www.thecollegefix.com/universities-repeatedly-discipline-professors-for-referring-to-the-n-word/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/18/professor-wont-teach-more-classes-after-saying-n-word|title=Professor won't teach more classes after saying N-word|first=Colleen|last=Flaherty|work=Inside Higher Education|date=November 18, 2019|access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref> In two other cases, a professor at [[Princeton University|Princeton]] decided to stop teaching a course on [[hate speech]] after students protested his utterance of "nigger" and a professor at DePaul had his law course cancelled after 80% of the enrolled students transferred out.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/13/585386694/professor-cancels-course-on-hate-speech-amid-contention-over-his-use-of-slur|title=Professor cancels course on hate speech amid contention over his use of slur|first=Colin|last=Dwyer|work=NPR|date=February 13, 2018|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=March 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200315090311/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/13/585386694/professor-cancels-course-on-hate-speech-amid-contention-over-his-use-of-slur|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://depauliaonline.com/42740/news/depaul-professor-formerly-under-fire-for-use-of-n-word-in-teaching-exercise-rehired/|title=Professor formerly under fire for use of 'N-word' in teaching exercise back at DePaul|first=Ella|last=Lee|work=The DePaulia|date=September 23, 2019|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=September 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924050400/https://depauliaonline.com/42740/news/depaul-professor-formerly-under-fire-for-use-of-n-word-in-teaching-exercise-rehired/|url-status=live}}</ref> Instead of pursuing disciplinary action, a student at the [[College of the Desert]] challenged his professor in a [[viral video|viral]] class presentation which argued that her use of the word in a lecture was not justified.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/college-student-presentation-n-word-professor-maleek-eid-california-a8813186.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/college-student-presentation-n-word-professor-maleek-eid-california-a8813186.html |archive-date=June 20, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=College student delivers presentation to call out professor for using n-word in class|first=Sarah|last=Harvard|work=The Independent|date=March 7, 2019|access-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref>

===In the workplace===
In 2018, the head of the media company [[Netflix]], [[Reed Hastings]], fired his chief communications officer, Jonathan Friedland, for using the word twice during internal discussions about sensitive words.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mele |first1=Christopher |title=Netflix Fires Chief Communications Officer Over Use of Racial Slur |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/business/media/jonathan-friedland-netflix-racial-slur.html |access-date=June 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 23, 2018 |language=en |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623020342/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/business/media/jonathan-friedland-netflix-racial-slur.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In explaining why, Hastings wrote:

{{blockquote|[The word's use] in popular media like music and film have created some confusion as to whether or not there is ever a time when the use of the N-word is acceptable. For non-Black people, the word should not be spoken as there is almost no context in which it is appropriate or constructive (even when singing a song or reading a script). There is not a way to neutralize the emotion and history behind the word in any context. The use of the phrase 'N-word' was created as a euphemism, and the norm, with the intention of providing an acceptable replacement and moving people away from using the specific word. When a person violates this norm, it creates resentment, intense frustration, and great offense for many.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Landy |first1=Heather |title=Read the Netflix CEO's excellent memo about firing an executive who used the N-word |url=https://work.qz.com/1313072/read-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-memo-about-the-firing-of-pr-chief-jonathan-friedland-for-using-the-n-word/ |access-date=June 23, 2018 |work=Quartz at Work |date=June 23, 2018 |archive-date=June 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623162827/https://work.qz.com/1313072/read-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings-memo-about-the-firing-of-pr-chief-jonathan-friedland-for-using-the-n-word/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

The following year, screenwriter [[Walter Mosley]] turned down a job after his human resources department took issue with him using the word to describe racism that he experienced as a black man.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/opinion/sunday/walter-mosley.html |title=Why I quit the writer's room |first=Walter |last=Mosley |author-link=Walter Mosley |work=The New York Times |date=September 6, 2019 |access-date=September 19, 2019 |archive-date=September 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921164048/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/opinion/sunday/walter-mosley.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

While defending Laurie Sheck, a professor who was cleared of ethical violations for quoting ''[[I Am Not Your Negro]]'' by [[James Baldwin]], [[John McWhorter]] wrote that efforts to condemn racist language by white Americans had undergone [[mission creep]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/whites-refer-to-the-n-word/596872/|title=The idea that white's can't refer to the N-word|first=John|last=McWhorter|author-link=John McWhorter|magazine=The Atlantic|date=August 21, 2019|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111140215/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/whites-refer-to-the-n-word/596872/|url-status=live}}</ref> Similar controversies outside the United States have occurred at the [[University of Western Ontario]] in Canada and the Madrid campus of [[Syracuse University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/6091885/western-university-andrew-wenaus-n-word/|title=Western University professor apologizes after student calls out his use of the n-word|first=Jacquelyn|last=Lebel|work=Global News|date=October 28, 2019|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105120520/https://globalnews.ca/news/6091885/western-university-andrew-wenaus-n-word/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://dailyorange.com/2019/03/students-professor-use-n-word-classes-sus-madrid-program/|title=Students, professor use 'N-word' during class at SU's Madrid program|first=Catherine|last=Leffert|work=The Daily Orange|date=March 13, 2019|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123085850/http://dailyorange.com/2019/03/students-professor-use-n-word-classes-sus-madrid-program|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2020, Canadian news host [[Wendy Mesley]] was suspended and replaced with a guest host after she attended a meeting on racial justice and, in the process of quoting a journalist, used "a word that no-one like me should ever use".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-cbc-host-wendy-mesley-apologizes-for-using-a-certain-word-in-2/|title=CBC host Wendy Mesley apologizes for using a certain word in discussion on race|first=Darren|last=Calabrese|work=The Canadian Press|date=June 9, 2020|access-date=June 13, 2020|archive-date=June 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610161410/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-cbc-host-wendy-mesley-apologizes-for-using-a-certain-word-in-2/|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2020, [[BBC News]], with the agreement of victim and family, mentioned the slur when reporting on a physical and verbal assault on the black NHS worker and musician K-Dogg. Within the week the BBC received over 18,600 complaints, the black radio host David Whitely resigned in protest, and the BBC apologized.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53715814/|title=BBC apologises over racial slur used in news report|work=BBC News|date=August 9, 2020|access-date=August 26, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831135252/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53715814|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2021, in [[Tampa, Florida]], a 27-year-old black employee at a [[Dunkin' Donuts]] punched a 77-year-old white customer after the customer had repeatedly called the employee a nigger.<ref>{{cite web |author=Dan Sullivan |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2022/03/07/tampa-dunkin-case-a-racial-slur-a-fatal-punch-and-2-years-of-house-arrest/ |title=Tampa Dunkin' case: A racial slur, a fatal punch and 2 years of house arrest |work=Tampa Bay Times |date= |accessdate=September 25, 2022 |archive-date=September 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923063729/https://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa/2022/03/07/tampa-dunkin-case-a-racial-slur-a-fatal-punch-and-2-years-of-house-arrest/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The customer fell to the floor and hit his head. Three days later, he died, having suffered a [[skull fracture]] and [[brain contusion]]s. The employee was arrested, and charged with [[manslaughter]]. In a [[plea bargain]], the employee pled guilty to felony [[battery (crime)|battery]], and was sentenced to two years of [[house arrest]]. In 2022, in explaining why the employee did not receive any jail time, Grayson Kamm, a spokesman for Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, said "Two of the primary factors were the aggressive approach the victim took toward the defendant and everyone working with the defendant, and that the victim repeatedly used possibly the most aggressive and offensive term in the English language."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/corey-pujols-dunkin-worker-sentenced-fatal-punch-vonelle-cook-slur/|title=Florida Dunkin' employee is sentenced for fatally punching customer who used racist slur|work=CBS News|date=March 9, 2022|access-date=August 14, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814130244/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/corey-pujols-dunkin-worker-sentenced-fatal-punch-vonelle-cook-slur/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Intra-group versus intergroup usage===
{{Main|Nigga}}
{{See also|Ingroups and outgroups}}

Black listeners often react to the term differently, depending on whether it is used by white speakers or by black speakers. In the former case, it is regularly understood as insensitive or insulting; in the latter, it may carry notes of in-group disparagement, or it may be understood as neutral or affectionate, a possible instance of [[reappropriation]].<ref name="Brontsema">{{Cite journal|last=Brontsema|first=Robin|date=June 1, 2004|title=A Queer Revolution: Reconceptualizing the Debate Over Linguistic Reclamation|journal=Colorado Research in Linguistics|volume=17|issue=1|doi=10.25810/dky3-zq57|issn=1937-7029|quote=Linguistic reclamation, also known as linguistic resignification or reappropriation, refers to the appropriation of a pejorative epithet by its target(s).}}</ref>

In the black community, ''nigger'' is often rendered as ''[[nigga]]''. This usage has been popularized by the [[rap]] and [[hip-hop]] music cultures and is used as part of an in-group lexicon and speech. It is not necessarily derogatory and is often used to mean ''homie'' or ''friend''.<ref name="usage-alert">{{cite dictionary |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigga |title=''Nigga'' Usage Alert |dictionary=[[Dictionary.com]] |access-date=July 23, 2015}}</ref>

Acceptance of intra-group usage of the word ''nigga'' is still debated,<ref name="usage-alert" /> although it has established a foothold amongst younger generations. The [[NAACP]] denounces the use of both ''nigga'' and ''nigger''. Usage of ''nigga'' by mixed-race individuals is still largely considered taboo,{{Efn|Whether this usage is considered acceptable may depend on a sense of the speaker's in-group belonging, as judged by the speaker him- or herself, the listener(s), or others.}} albeit not as inflammatory as ''nigger''. As of 2001, trends indicated that usage of the term in intragroup settings is increasing even amongst white youth, due to the popularity of rap and hip hop culture.<ref name="ENQ">{{cite news |last1=Aldridge |first1=Kevin |last2=Thompson |first2=Richelle |last3=Winston |first3=Earnest |url=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_1the_n-word.html |title=The evolving N-word |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=August 5, 2001 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130110202405/http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/08/05/loc_1the_n-word.html |archive-date=January 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 14, 2011 }}</ref> Linguist [[Keith Allan (linguist)|Keith Allan]] rejects the view that ''nigger'' is always a slur, arguing that it is also used as a marker of camaraderie and friendship, comparable to the British and Australian term "mate" or the American "buddy".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Allan|first=Keith |title=When is a slur not a slur? The use of nigger in 'Pulp Fiction'|journal=Language Sciences |volume=52 |date=November 2015|pages=187–199|doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2015.03.001}}</ref>

According to Arthur K. Spears in ''Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 2006'':
{{blockquote|In many African-American neighborhoods, nigga is simply the most common term used to refer to any male, of any race or ethnicity. Increasingly, the term has been applied to any person, male or female. "Where y'all niggas goin?" is said with no self-consciousness or animosity to a group of women, for the routine purpose of obtaining information. The point: ''nigga'' is evaluatively neutral in terms of its inherent meaning; it may express positive, neutral, or negative attitudes;<ref>{{cite journal |title=Perspectives: A View of the 'N-Word' from Sociolinguistics |url=http://diverseeducation.com/article/6114/ |last=Spears |first=Arthur K. |journal=Diverse Issues in Higher Education |date=July 12, 2006 |access-date=July 13, 2013 |archive-date=September 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927014836/http://diverseeducation.com/article/6114/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Kevin Cato, meanwhile, observes:
{{blockquote|For instance, a show on [[Black Entertainment Television]], a cable network aimed at a Black audience, described the word nigger as a "[[term of endearment]]". "In the African American community, the word ''nigga'' (not ''nigger'') brings out feelings of pride." (Davis{{nbs}}1.) Here the word evokes a sense of community and oneness among Black people. Many teens I interviewed felt the word had no power when used amongst friends, but when used among white people the word took on a completely different meaning. In fact, comedian Alex Thomas on BET stated, "I still better not hear no white boy say that to me{{nbs}}... I hear a white boy say that to me, it means 'White boy, you gonna get your ass beat.{{'"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/XI/Nigger.html |title=Nigger: Language, History, and Modern Day Discourse |work=Intertext |publisher=Syracuse University |access-date=January 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517143530/http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/XI/Nigger.html |archive-date=May 17, 2011}}</ref>}}

Addressing the use of ''nigger'' by black people, philosopher and public intellectual [[Cornel West]] said in 2007:
{{blockquote|There's a certain rhythmic seduction to the word. If you speak in a sentence, and you have to say ''cat'', ''companion'', or ''friend'', as opposed to ''nigger'', then the rhythmic presentation is off. That rhythmic language is a form of historical memory for Black people{{nbs}}... When [[Richard Pryor]] came back from Africa, and decided to stop using the word onstage, he would sometimes start to slip up, because he was so used to speaking that way. It was the right word at the moment to keep the rhythm together in his sentence making.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mohr |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Mohr |title=Cornel West Talks Rhymes and Race |magazine=[[Playboy]] |volume=54 |issue=11 |page=44 |date=November 2007}}</ref>}}

====2010s: Increase in use and controversy====
In the 2010s, "nigger" in its various forms saw use with increasing frequency by African Americans amongst themselves or in self-expression, the most common swear word in hip hop music lyrics.<ref name="freq">{{cite news |last1=Sheinin |first1=Dave |last2=Thompson |first2=Krissah |author-link2=Krissah Thompson |title=Redefining the Word |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/11/09/the-n-word-an-entrenched-racial-slur-now-more-prevalent-than-ever/ |access-date=May 24, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 9, 2014 |archive-date=May 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512104225/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/11/09/the-n-word-an-entrenched-racial-slur-now-more-prevalent-than-ever/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="wapo">{{cite news |title=Profanity in lyrics: most used swear words and their usage by popular genres |work=Musixmatch |url=https://blog.musixmatch.com/profanity-in-lyrics-most-used-swear-words-and-their-usage-by-popular-genres-d8a12c776713 |access-date=May 24, 2019 |date=December 16, 2015}}</ref> [[Ta-Nehisi Coates]] suggested that it continues to be unacceptable for non-blacks to utter while singing or rapping along to hip-hop, and that by being so restrained it gives white Americans (specifically) an impression of what it is like to not be entitled to "do anything they please, anywhere". A concern often raised is whether frequent exposure will inevitably lead to a dilution of the extremely negative perception of the word among the majority of non-black Americans who currently consider its use unacceptable and shocking.<ref name="coates">{{cite news |last1=Bain |first1=Marc |title=Ta-Nehisi Coates Gently Explains Why White People Can't Rap the N-Word |url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1127824/ta-nehisi-coates-explains-why-white-hip-hop-fans-cant-use-the-n-word/ |access-date=May 24, 2019 |work=Quartz |date=November 13, 2017 |archive-date=May 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524183923/https://qz.com/quartzy/1127824/ta-nehisi-coates-explains-why-white-hip-hop-fans-cant-use-the-n-word/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Related words==
===Derivatives===
[[File:The Nigger in the Woodpile.jpg|thumb|Anti-abolitionist cartoon from the 1860 presidential campaign illustrating colloquial usage of "[[Nigger in the woodpile]]"]]

In several English-speaking countries, "[[Niggerhead]]" or "nigger head" was used as a name for many sorts of things, including [[#Commercial products|commercial products]], [[#Place names|places]], [[#Nature|plants and animals]], as a descriptive term (lit. 'black person's head'). It also is or was a colloquial technical term in industry, mining, and seafaring. ''Nigger'' as "defect" (a hidden problem) derives from "[[nigger in the woodpile]]", a US slave-era phrase denoting escaped slaves hiding in train-transported woodpiles.<ref name="Oxford English Reference Dictionary 1996 p.981">{{cite book |title=The Oxford English Reference Dictionary |edition=2nd |year=1996|page=981}}</ref><!--better to use {{cite dictionary}} and cite the individual entry--> In the 1840s, the ''[[Morning Chronicle]]'' newspaper report series ''[[London Labour and the London Poor]]'', by [[Henry Mayhew]], records the usages of both "nigger" and the similar-sounding word "niggard" denoting a false bottom for a grate.<ref>vol 2 p6</ref>

{{anchor|nigger lover}}In [[American English]], "nigger lover" initially applied to [[abolitionists]], then to white people sympathetic towards black Americans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herbst |first1=Philip |title=The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States |date=1997 |publisher=Intercultural Press |isbn=978-1-877864-97-1 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiZQH5gHuggC |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=September 24, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130531/https://books.google.com/books?id=UiZQH5gHuggC |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[portmanteau]] word ''[[wigger]]'' ('White' + 'nigger') denotes a white person emulating "street Black behavior", hoping to gain acceptance to the [[hip hop]], thug, and [[gangsta rap|gangsta]] sub-cultures. [[Norman Mailer]] wrote of the antecedents of this phenomenon in 1957 in his essay ''[[The White Negro]]''.

In [[Ukraine]], the word "zigger" (''[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]'': 'зіггер') is sometimes used as a derogatory term by [[Ukrainians]] to refer to [[Russian Armed Forces|Russian soldiers]] and those who follow the [[State propaganda in the Russian Federation|Russian government's propaganda]]. The word comes from replacing the first letter of "nigger" with a Z, which is a reference to the [[Z (military symbol)|"Z" tactical symbol]] used by Russian troops and [[Russian nationalism|Russian nationalists]].<ref>{{Citation |title=zigger |date=2025-02-04 |work=Wiktionary, the free dictionary |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zigger |access-date=2025-02-06 |language=en}}</ref>  It is used as a more offensive alternative to calling someone a "[[vatnik]]."

===''The N-word'' euphemism===
{{Quote box|width=376px|border=0px|salign=right|tstyle=font-size:100%|title=Notable usage<ref name="finnasidolandtarget">{{cite book |title=Huckleberry Finn as idol and target |first=Jonathan |last=Arac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twfLrDgYRlUC&pg=PA29 |access-date=August 18, 2010 |date=November 1997 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |location=[[Madison, Wisconsin]] |isbn=978-0-299-15534-6 |page=29 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130940/https://books.google.com/books?id=twfLrDgYRlUC&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>|source=— Kenneth B. Noble, January 14, 1995 ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Issue of Racism Erupts in Simpson Trial |first=Kenneth B. |last=Noble |date=January 14, 1995 |access-date=February 2, 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/14/us/issue-of-racism-erupts-in-simpson-trial.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308142922/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/14/us/issue-of-racism-erupts-in-simpson-trial.html |url-status=live }}</ref>|quote=The prosecutor {{bracket|[[Christopher Darden]]}}, his voice trembling, added that the "N-word" was so vile he would not utter it. "It's the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language."}}

One of the first uses of ''the [[wikt:n-word|N-word]]'' [[euphemism]] by a major public figure came during the racially contentious [[O. J. Simpson murder case]] in 1995. Key prosecution witness Detective [[Mark Fuhrman]], of the [[Los Angeles Police Department]]—who denied using racist language on duty—impeached himself with his prolific use of ''nigger'' in tape recordings about his police work. Co-prosecutor [[Christopher Darden]] refused to say the actual word, calling it "the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language". Media personnel who reported on Fuhrman's testimony substituted ''the N-word'' for ''nigger''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McWhorter |first=John |date=April 30, 2021 |title=How the N-Word Became Unsayable |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/john-mcwhorter-n-word-unsayable.html |access-date=May 27, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240611014642/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/john-mcwhorter-n-word-unsayable.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Cherry |date=October 4, 2020 |title=N-word: The troubled history of the racial slur |language=en-GB |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749800 |access-date=May 27, 2023 |archive-date=February 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210121239/https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53749800 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Similar-sounding words===
{{lang|la|Niger}} (Latin for "black") occurs in Latinate [[scientific nomenclature]] and is the [[root word]] for some [[homophone]]s of ''nigger''; sellers of [[niger seed]] (used as bird feed), sometimes use the spelling ''Nyjer'' seed. The classical [[Latin spelling and pronunciation|Latin pronunciation]] {{IPA|/ˈniɡeɾ/}} sounds similar to the English {{IPA|/ˈnɪɡər/}}, occurring in biologic and [[anatomic]] names, such as ''[[Hyoscyamus niger]]'' (black henbane), and even for animals that are in fact not black, such as ''[[Sciurus niger]]'' (fox squirrel).

{{lang|la|Nigra}} is the Latin feminine form of {{lang|la|niger}} (black), used in biologic and anatomic names such as [[substantia nigra]] (black substance).

The word ''niggardly'' (miserly) is etymologically unrelated to ''nigger'', derived from the [[Old Norse]] word {{lang|non|nig}} (stingy) and the [[Middle English]] word {{lang|enm|nigon}}. In the US, this word [[controversies about the word niggardly|has been misinterpreted]] as related to ''nigger'' and taken as offensive. In January 1999, David Howard, a white Washington, D.C., city employee, was compelled to resign after using ''niggardly''—in a financial context—while speaking with black colleagues, who took umbrage. After reviewing the misunderstanding, Mayor [[Anthony A. Williams]] offered to reinstate Howard to his former position. Howard refused reinstatement but took a job elsewhere in the mayor's government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm |title=D.C. Mayor Acted 'Hastily', Will Rehire Aide |last=Woodlee |first=Yolanda |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 4, 1999 |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=August 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820112736/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{lang|es|Negro}} {{IPA|[ˈne.ɣ̞ɾo]}} is the Spanish word for 'black', and is commonly a part of place names and proper names, particularly in the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest of the United States]].

===Denotational extension===
{{Anchor|Sand nigger}}
[[File:02 05 03 Die Arab Sand.jpg|thumb|"Die Arab sand-niggers", graffiti by far-right Israeli [[Kach]] activists on a [[State of Palestine|Palestinian]] home in [[Hebron]]  in 2002<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-08-22 |title=CPTnet May Releases: HEBRON UPDATE: April 29-May 3, 2002 |url=http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/archives/2002/may02/0009.html |access-date=2024-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020822104737/http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/archives/2002/may02/0009.html |archive-date=August 22, 2002 }}</ref>]]

The [[denotation]]s of ''nigger'' also include non-black/non-white and other disadvantaged people. Some of these terms are self-chosen, to identify with the oppression and resistance of black Americans; others are [[ethnic slur]]s used by outsiders.

[[Jerry Farber]]'s 1967 essay collection, ''[[The Student as Nigger]]'', used the word as a metaphor for what he saw as the role forced on students. Farber had been, at the time, frequently arrested as a civil rights activist while beginning his career as a literature professor.

In his 1968 autobiography ''[[White Niggers of America]]: The Precocious Autobiography of a Quebec "Terrorist"'', [[Pierre Vallières]], a {{lang|fr|italic=no|[[Front de libération du Québec]]}} leader, refers to the oppression of the [[Québécois (word)|Québécois people]] in North America.

In 1969, in the course of being interviewed by the British magazine ''[[Nova (UK magazine)|Nova]]'', artist [[Yoko Ono]] said "woman is the nigger of the world"; three years later, her husband, [[John Lennon]], published the song [[Woman Is the Nigger of the World|of the same name]]—about the worldwide phenomenon of discrimination against women—which was socially and politically controversial to US sensibilities.

''Sand nigger'', an ethnic slur against Arabs, and ''timber nigger'' and ''prairie nigger'', ethnic slurs against Native Americans, are examples of the racist extension of ''nigger'' upon other non-white peoples.<ref name="Kennedy">{{Cite journal |title=Who Can Say 'Nigger'? And Other Considerations |first=Randall L. |last=Kennedy |author-link=Randall Kennedy |journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |issue=26 |date=Winter 1999–2000 |pages=86–96 [87] |jstor=2999172 |doi=10.2307/2999172}}</ref>

In 1978, singer [[Patti Smith]] used the word in "[[Rock N Roll Nigger]]". One year later in 1979, English singer [[Elvis Costello]] used the phrase "[[white nigger]]" in his song "[[Oliver's Army]]". The slur usually remains uncensored on radio stations, but Costello's usage of the word came under scrutiny, particularly after he used racial slurs during a drunken argument with [[Stephen Stills]] and [[Bonnie Bramlett]] in 1979. In the same year, Costello's father published a letter in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' defending his son against accusations of racism, stating "Nothing could be further from the truth. My own background has meant that I am passionately opposed to any form of prejudice based on religion or race&nbsp;... His mother comes from the tough multiracial area of [[Liverpool]], and I think she would still beat the tar out of him if his orthodoxy were in doubt".<ref name="McManus">{{cite magazine |last=McManus |first=Ross |date=June 14, 1979 |title=Elvis Costello |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |location=New York City}}</ref> 

Historian [[Eugene Genovese]], noted for bringing a [[Marxist]] perspective to the study of power, class and relations between planters and slaves in the South, uses the word pointedly in ''The World the Slaveholders Made'' (1988).
{{blockquote|For reasons common to the slave condition all slave classes displayed a lack of industrial initiative and produced the famous Lazy Nigger, who under Russian serfdom and elsewhere was white. Just as not all Blacks, even under the most degrading forms of slavery, consented to become niggers, so by no means all or even most of the niggers in history have been Black.}}

[[Oberon Zell-Ravenheart#Green Egg|The editor]] of ''[[Green Egg]]'', a magazine described in ''The [[Encyclopedia of American Religions]]'' as a significant periodical, published an essay entitled "Niggers of the New Age". This argued that [[Neopaganism|Neo-Pagans]] were treated badly by other parts of the [[New Age]] movement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=G'Zell |first1=Otter |title=Green Egg Omelette: An Anthology of Art and Articles from the Legendary Pagan Journal |date=2009 |page=209 |publisher=New Page Books |isbn=978-1601630469}}</ref>

===Other languages===
{{refimprove section|date=December 2023}}
Other languages, particularly [[Romance languages]], have words that sound similar to or share etymological roots with ''nigger'' but do not necessarily mean the same. In some of these languages, the words refer to the color black in general and are not specifically used to refer to black people. When used to refer to black people, these words have acquired varying degrees of offensiveness, ranging from completely neutral (as in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] {{lang|es|negro}}) to highly racist (as in [[Finnish language|Finnish]] {{lang|fi|Neekeri}}). Examples of related words in other languages include:

*[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]: {{lang|bg|Негър}} ({{lang|bg-Latn|negar}}), loaned from French {{lang|fr|nègre}}, is considered a neutral word for black people in [[Bulgaria]]. Some publications and institutions use {{lang|bg|чернокож}} or {{lang|bg|тъмнокож}}, but the use of {{lang|bg|негър}} is more widespread.
*[[Dutch language|Dutch]]: {{lang|nl|Neger}} ('negro') used to be neutral, but many now consider it to be avoided in favor of {{lang|nl|zwarte}} ('black').<ref>{{Cite web|title=Waarom wil je ons zo graag neger noemen?|lang=nl|url=http://www.joop.nl/opinies/waarom-wil-je-ons-zo-graag-neger-noemen|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220220515/http://www.joop.nl/opinies/waarom-wil-je-ons-zo-graag-neger-noemen|archivedate=2016-02-20|work=joop.nl|first=Mitchell|last=Esajas|date=2014-05-25}}</ref><ref>[http://taaltelefoon.vlaanderen.be/nlapps/docs/default.asp?id=2047 "Neger/zwarte"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612182420/http://taaltelefoon.vlaanderen.be/nlapps/docs/default.asp?id=2047 |date=June 12, 2013 }}, ''Taaltelefoon''.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Volkskrant stijlboek |language=nl |trans-title=Volkskrant style book |url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/media/stijlboek~a4255465/ |website=Volkskrant |access-date=December 14, 2016 |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202235128/http://www.volkskrant.nl/media/stijlboek~a4255465/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Stijlboek |language=nl |trans-title=Style book |url=https://apps.nrc.nl/stijlboek/search/node/neger |website=NRC handelsblad |access-date=December 14, 2016 |archive-date=December 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220144116/https://apps.nrc.nl/stijlboek/search/node/neger |url-status=live }}</ref> {{lang|nl|Zwartje}} ('little black one') can be amicably or offensively used. {{lang|nl|Nikker}} is always pejorative.<ref>[[Van Dale]], ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse taal'', 2010</ref>
* [[Finnish language|Finnish]]: {{lang|fi|Neekeri}} ('negro/nigger'), as a loan word ('Neger') from the [[Swedish language]], appeared for the first time in a book published in 1771.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jussila |first=Raimo |title=Vanhat sanat: Vanhan kirjasuomen ensiesiintymiä |year=1998 |pages=170, 365 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura / Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus |isbn=951-746-008-2 |language=fi}}</ref> The use of the Finnish equivalent ({{lang|fi|neekeri}}) began in the late 19th century. Until the 1980s, it was commonly used and generally not yet considered derogatory, although a few instances of it being considered to be so have been documented since the 1950s; by the mid-1990s the word was considered racist, especially in the metropolitan area and among the younger population.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rastas |first=Anna |chapter=Neutraalisti rasistinen? Erään sanan politiikkaa |title=Rasismi lasten ja nuorten arjessa: Transnationaalit juuret ja monikulttuuristuva Suomi |location=Tampere |publisher=Tampere University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-951-44-6946-6 |url=http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:978-951-44-6964-0 |language=fi |access-date=December 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130944/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/67726 |url-status=live }}</ref> It has since then usually been replaced by the [[metonymy|metonym]] {{lang|fi|musta}} ('black [person]').<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Raittila |editor-first=Pentti |title=Etnisyys ja rasismi journalismissa |year=2002 |chapter=Etniset vähemmistöt uutisissa |pages=25–26 |last=Pietikäinen |first=Sari |location=Tampere |publisher=Tampere University Press |isbn=951-44-5486-3 |url=https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/65640 |access-date=December 26, 2020 |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417183905/https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/65640 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a survey conducted in 2000, Finnish respondents considered the term {{lang|fi|Neekeri}} to be among the most offensive of minority designations.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Tervonen| first=Satu| title=Etnisten nimitysten eri sävyt| journal=Kielikello| year=2001| number=1/2001| publisher=Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus| url=https://www.kielikello.fi/-/etnisten-nimitysten-eri-savyt| language=fi| access-date=December 26, 2020| archive-date=December 4, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204104134/https://www.kielikello.fi/-/etnisten-nimitysten-eri-savyt| url-status=live}}</ref> 
*[[French language|French]]: {{lang|fr|[[Nègre]]}} is now considered derogatory. Although {{lang|fr|Nègre littéraire}} was the standard term for a [[ghostwriter]], it has largely been supplanted by {{lang|fr|prête-plume}}. Some white Frenchmen have the surname [[Negre|Nègre]]. The word can still be used as a synonym of "sweetheart" in some traditional Louisiana [[French-based creole languages|French creole]] songs.
*[[German language|German]]: {{lang|de|Neger}} is dated and now considered offensive. {{lang|de|Schwarze/-r}} ('black [person]') or {{lang|de|Farbige/-r}} ("colored [person]") is more neutral.
*[[Haitian Creole]]: {{lang|ht|nèg}} is used for any man in general, regardless of skin color (like ''[[dude]]'' in [[American English]]). Haitian Creole derives predominantly from French.
*[[Italian language|Italian]] has three variants: {{lang|it|negro}}, {{lang|it|nero}} and {{lang|it|di colore}}. The first one is the most historically attested and was the most commonly used until the 1960s as an equivalent of the English word "negro". It was gradually felt as offensive during the 1970s and replaced with {{lang|it|nero}} and {{lang|it|di colore}}. {{lang|it|Nero}} was considered a better translation of the English word ''black'', while {{lang|it|di colore}} is a [[calque|loan translation]] of the English word ''colored''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/nero-negro-colore |publisher=Accademia della Crusca |title=Nero, negro e di colore |date=12 October 2012 |language=it |access-date=September 30, 2019 |archive-date=September 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930063932/http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/lingua-italiana/consulenza-linguistica/domande-risposte/nero-negro-colore |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: {{lang|pt-BR|Negro}} (as well as {{lang|pt-BR|preto}}) is neutral;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/trabalhoerendimento/pnad2009/tabelas_pdf/brasil_1_2.pdf |title=Tabela 1.2 – População residente, por cor ou raça, segundo a situação do domicílio e o sexo – Brasil – 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924122330/http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/trabalhoerendimento/pnad2009/tabelas_pdf/brasil_1_2.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/negros/popnegra.html |title=Evolutio da populaco brasileira, segundo a cor – 1872/1991|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221233359/http://www.ibge.gov.br/ibgeteen/povoamento/negros/popnegra.html |archive-date=December 21, 2010 }}</ref> nevertheless {{lang|pt-BR|preto}} can be offensive or at least "[[political correctness|politically incorrect]]" and is almost never proudly used by Afro-Brazilians. {{lang|pt-BR|Crioulo}} and {{lang|pt-BR|[[macaca (term)|macaco]]}} are always extremely pejorative.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Rio/0,,MUL58456-5606,00-SOU+INCAPAZ+DE+QUALQUER+ATITUDE+RACISTA+DIZ+PROCURADOR.html |title=G1 > Edição Rio de Janeiro – NOTÍCIAS – Sou incapaz de qualquer atitude racista, diz procurador |website=G1 |publisher=Grupo Globo |access-date=October 9, 2019 |archive-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912031132/https://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Rio/0,,MUL58456-5606,00-SOU+INCAPAZ+DE+QUALQUER+ATITUDE+RACISTA+DIZ+PROCURADOR.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Romanian language|Romanian]]: {{lang|ro|Negrotei}} is derogatory;<ref>{{cite web|title=negrotei - definiție Argou și paradigmă |url=https://dexonline.ro/definitie/negrotei|access-date=June 12, 2023|website=Dicționar explicativ al limbii române|language=ro|archive-date=June 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612194233/https://dexonline.ro/definitie/negrotei|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Russian language|Russian]]: the word {{lang|ru|[[:ru:негр|негр]]}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|negr}}) has been commonly used as neutral word to describe black people until recent years. It can also be used as a synonym for underpaid worker; "{{lang|ru|литературный негр}}" ({{lang|ru-Latn|literaturny negr}}) means ghostwriter.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ozhegov |first=Sergeĭ Ivanovich|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1041202243|script-title=ru:Толковый словарь русского языка : около 100 000 слови |last2=Skvortsov |first2=Lev Ivanovich |year=2014|isbn=978-5-94666-678-7|edition=28th |location=Moscow|oclc=1041202243|access-date=December 9, 2020|archive-date=September 15, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915130943/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1041202243|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=August 29, 2000|script-title=ru:Латыши и гости столицы|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/17514|access-date=March 8, 2021|website=Kommersant|language=ru|archive-date=August 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818214659/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/17514|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|script-title=ru:Писатели-призраки|url=https://newizv.ru/news/culture/29-06-2007/71864-pisateli-prizraki|access-date=March 8, 2021|website=Noviye Izvestiya |archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417202405/https://newizv.ru/news/culture/29-06-2007/71864-pisateli-prizraki|url-status=live}}</ref> Nowadays, a black person would often be described neutrally as "{{lang|ru|чернокожий}}" ({{lang|ru-Latn|chernokozhiy}}, 'black-skinned'), though the organization [[Help Needed]] instead recommends "{{lang|ru|темнокожий}}" ({{lang|ru-Latn|temnokozhiy}}, 'dark-skinned').<ref name="Такие Дела 2019 f016">{{cite web | script-title=ru:Почему плохо говорить «негр»? | website=Takiye Dela | date=April 8, 2019 | url=https://takiedela.ru/dictionary-words/negr/ | language=ru | access-date=July 25, 2023 | archive-date=January 3, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103145526/https://takiedela.ru/dictionary-words/negr/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Spanish language|Spanish]]: {{lang|es|Negro}} is the word for "black" and is the only way to refer to that color.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=negro, gra |url=https://dle.rae.es/negro |access-date=February 1, 2023 |publisher=Diccionario de la lengua española |edition=tricentenary |language=es |archive-date=December 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207211744/https://dle.rae.es/negro |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of ethnic slurs]]
**[[List of ethnic group names used as insults]]
**[[Kaffir (ethnic slur)]]
**[[Blackfella]]
*''[[Guilty or Innocent of Using the N Word]]'', a 2006 documentary
*[[List of topics related to the African diaspora]]
*"[[With Apologies to Jesse Jackson]]", an episode of ''[[South Park]]'' with a plot revolving around the word's extreme offensiveness
*[[Golliwog]]
*[[Profanity]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Oxford English Dictionary |edition=2nd |year=1989 |article=nigger}}
*{{cite book |last=Fuller |first=Neely Jr. |year=1984 |title=The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept: A Textbook/Workbook for Thought, Speech, and/or Action, for Victims of Racism (white supremacy) |id=ASIN B000BVZW38}}
*{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Kennedy |year=2002 |title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-375-42172-3|title-link=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word}}
*{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Stephanie |year=2005 |title=Household Words: Bloomers, Sucker, Bombshell, Scab, Nigger, Cyber |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |location=Minneapolis |isbn=978-0-8166-4552-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Swan |first=Robert J. |year=2003 |title=New Amsterdam Gehenna: Segregated Death in New York City, 1630–1801 |publisher=Noir Verite Press |location=Brooklyn |isbn=978-0-9722813-0-0}}
*{{cite journal |last=Worth |first=Robert F. |title=Nigger Heaven and the Harlem Renaissance |journal=African American Review |date=Fall 1995 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=461–473 |doi=10.2307/3042395 |jstor=3042395}}

{{Wiktionary|nigger|N-word}}
==Further reading==
{{commons category|Nigger}}
*{{cite book |last=Asim |first=Jabari |title=The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Company]] |date=2007 |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-618-19717-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/nword00jaba}}

{{Ethnic slurs}}

[[Category:1775 neologisms]]
[[Category:African-American-related controversies]]
[[Category:African-American society]]
[[Category:American English words]]
[[Category:Anti-African and anti-black slurs]]
[[Category:English profanity]]
[[Category:English words]]
[[Category:Ethnonyms of African Americans]]
[[Category:Ethnonyms of dark-skinned Africans]]
[[Category:Historical ethnonyms]]