different between niggardly vs modicum

English

Etymology

niggard +? -ly

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n???dli/

Adjective

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

   Synonyms: miserly, stingy; see also Thesaurus:stingy

   • 1609, Joseph Hall, (paraphrasing Ambrose? in) "No Peace with Rome", in Josiah Pratt (editor), The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D. D., Vol. IX. Polemical Works, London, (1808), page 57:

     [W]here the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 47

     They were not niggardly, these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

   • 1958, John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ?ISBN, p. 186:

     This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

Usage notes

• This term may cause offence, especially in the US, as it is easily confused with niggerly, an adverbial form of the racial slur nigger. The two words are etymologically unrelated.

Translations

Adverb

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

1. (now rare) In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
   • , New York 2001, p.105:

     because many families are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

Translations

Further reading

• Controversies about the word "niggardly" on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English modicum, borrowed from Latin modicum (“a little, a small amount”), a noun use of the neuter form of modicus (“moderate; restrained, temperate; reasonable”) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Modicus is derived from modus (“a measure; a bound, limit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

The plural form modica is derived from Latin modica.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?d?k?m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d?k?m/, /-d?-/
• Hyphenation: mod?i?cum

Noun

modicum (plural modicums or (rare) modica)

1. A modest, small, or trifling amount.

   Synonyms: iota, jot, tittle; see also Thesaurus:modicum

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:lot

Translations

References

Latin

Etymology

From modicus (“moderate, middling”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?mo.di.kum/, [?m?d??k???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?mo.di.kum/, [?m??d?ikum]

Noun

modicum n (genitive modic?); second declension

1. a little, a small amount

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Descendants

• English: modicum

Adjective

modicum

1. nominative neuter singular of modicus
2. accusative masculine singular of modicus
3. accusative neuter singular of modicus
4. vocative neuter singular of modicus

References

• modicum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)