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It is a term used by racist people to offend black people. It is used especially by racist white people.
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'''Nigger''' is a [[pejorative]] term and common [[ethnic slur]] against [[black people]], and is English [[slang]]. In denoting “black person”, ''nigger'' originated as a variant of the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] [[noun]] ''[[negro]]'' (black) derived from the [[Latin]] adjective ''niger'' ([[black]]).<ref name="Pilgrim">{{cite web |url=http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/caricature/ |title=Nigger and Caricatures |accessdate=2007-06-19 |last=Pilgrim |first=David |year=2001 |month=September }}</ref><ref>[http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/homepage.asp?ID=273 Being a Nigger is Not Cool]</ref><ref>[http://www.abolishthenword.com/history.htm Abolish the "N" Word]</ref><ref>J. Douglas Allen-Taylor. “[http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.09.98/cover/nigger-9814.html The Word 'Nigger']” Metroactive News & Issues. April 1998.</ref> The pejorative, [[racism|racist]] meaning has been recognized and criticized as such since the nineteenth century, yet remained in general global use until the 1960s and 1970s. In United States [[popular culture]] and [[slang]], the word ''nigger'' remains current usage, yet remains a racist slur.

==Etymology and history==
{{Main|Negro}}
The variants ''[[neger]]'' and ''negar'', derive from the Spanish and Portuguese word {{lang|es|''negro''}} (black), and from the pejorative French ''nègre'' (nigger). Etymologically, ''negro'', ''noir'', ''nègre'', and ''nigger'' ultimately derive from ''nigrum'', the [[accusative]] form of the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|''niger''}} (black) (pronounced {{IPA|[ˈniɡer]}}; the ''r'' is [[Alveolar trill|trilled]]).<!--Romance language nouns (typically) derive from the accusative case, not the nominative case quoted in English. -->

In the [[Colonial America]] of 1619, [[John Rolfe]] used ''negars'' in describing the African [[slavery|slaves]] shipped to the [[Virginia colony]].<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/nigger.htm
|title=Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word
|author=Randall Kennedy
|date={{Date|2001-01-11}}
|publisher=[[The Washington Post]]
|accessdate=2007-08-17}} (Book review)</ref> Later [[American English]] spellings, ''neger'' and ''neggar'', prevailed in a northern colony, New York under the [[Dutch people|Dutch]], and in metropolitan Philadelphia’s [[Moravia]]n and [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] communities. To wit, the [[African Burial Ground]] in [[New York City]] originally was known by the Dutch name "Begraafplaats van de Neger" (Cemetery of the Negro); an early US occurrence of ''neger'' in [[Rhode Island]], dates from 1625.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Hutchinson
| first = Earl Ofari
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The assassination of the Black male image
| publisher = Simon and Schuster
| date = 1996
| location =
| page = 82
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=tL2dpZGqIrIC&pg=PA82
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 9780684831008}}</ref> Among Anglophones, the word ''nigger'' was not always considered derogatory, because it then denoted “black-skinned”, a common Anglophone usage.<ref name="Oxford English Reference Dictionary 1996 p.981">''The Oxford English Reference Dictionary'', second edition, (1996) p.981</ref> Nineteenth-century English (language) literature features usages of ''nigger'' without racist connotation, e.g. the [[Joseph Conrad]] [[novella]] ''[[The Nigger of the 'Narcissus']]'' (1897). Moreover, [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Mark Twain]] created characters who uttered the word as contemporary usage, and Mark Twain, in the autobiographic book ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]'' (1883), used it frequently.

In the United Kingdom and the Anglophone world, ''nigger'' denoted the dark-skinned (non-white) African and Asian peoples [[colonialism|colonized]] into the British Empire, and “dark-skinned foreigners” — in general. To wit, in ''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]'' (1926), [[H. W. Fowler]] states 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”; this anti-racist [[linguistic prescription]] was deleted from the later editions of Mr Fowler’s ''Dictionary''.

By the 1800s, because ''nigger'' had become a pejorative word, in its stead, the term ''[[colored]]'' became the mainstream alternative to ''negro'' and its derived terms. [[Abolitionism|Abolitionists]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], posted warnings to the ''Colored People of Boston and vicinity''. Established as mainstream American English usage, the word ''colored'' features in the organizational title of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]], reflecting the members’ racial [[identity politics|identity]] preference at the 1909 foundation. In the [[Southern United States]], the local American English [[dialect]] changes the pronunciation of ''negro'' to ''[[nigra]]'' — a pronunciation most famously used by the Texan-accented US President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (1963–69), a proponent of Black American [[civil rights]]. Linguistically, in developing American English, in the early editions of ''A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language'' (1806), [[lexicography|lexicographer]] [[Noah Webster]] suggested the ''neger'' [[spelling reform|new spelling]] in place of ''negro''.<ref>{{Cite book
| last=Mencken
| first=H. L.
| author-link=H. L. Mencken
| year=1921
| chapter= Chapter 8. American Spelling > 2. The Influence of Webster
| chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/185/32.html
| title=The American language: An inquiry into the development of English in the United States,
| edition=2nd ed., rev. and enl.
| publication-place=New York
| publisher=A.A. Knopf
| isbn =1-58734-087-9
| url=http://www.bartleby.com/185/
| unused_data=|ISBN status=May be invalid - please double check}}</ref>

By the late 1960s, the social progress achieved in US society, by such as the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|Black Civil Rights Movement]] (1955–68), had legitimized the racial [[identity politics|identity]] word ''Black'' as mainstream American English usage to denote black-skinned Americans. In the event, the “political militant” connotations of ''Black'' displaced it in favor of the compound [[blanket term]] ''[[African American]]'' — especially in [[politically correct]] usage and context — a linguistically compromised usage, because it either inaccurately denotes or excludes non-black African people, (cf. [[negroid]]). Moreover, as a compound word, ''African American'' resembles the [[vogue word]] ''[[Afro-American]]'', an early-1970s popular usage; nevertheless, ''Black'' is the contemporary racial denomination in the US, and usually is not considered offensive usage. Contemporaneously, the word ''nigger'' often is spelled [[onomatopoeia]]cally as ''[[nigga]]'' and ''niggah'', as spoken among Black Americans.

==Usages==
===British===
In [[British English]], ''nigger'' is a derogatory and racist word; however, earlier, the [[Victorian literature|Victorian writer]] [[Rudyard Kipling]] used it without derogatory intent, as narrator, and in the speech of his adventurous [[British Empire|imperialist]] characters, one of whom speaks the “Irish” usage ''naygur'' in identifying an [[India|Indian]] man. Like-wise, without derogatory intent, P. G. Wodehouse uses the phrase “Nigger minstrels” in ''[[Thank You, Jeeves]]'' (1934), the first Jeeves–Bertie novel, in admiration of their artistry and musical tradition. As recently as the 1950s, it was acceptable British usage to say ''niggers'' when referring to black people, notable in mainstream usages such as ''Nigger Boy''–brand {{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} candy cigarettes, and the colour ''nigger brown'' (dark brown); however, by the 1970s, these, and other recognised racist terms, were legally proscribed. {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} Moreover, as recently as 2007, the term ''nigger brown'' reappeared — in the model label of a Chinese-made sofa, indicating the regional Chinese usage of an out-dated Colonial form of English.<ref>[http://snopes.com/racial/business/sofa.asp]</ref>

===North American===
In [[American English]], white and black people freely used the word ''nigger'', until the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|Black Civil Rights Movement]] (1955–68) rendered its use to denote only racism.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}

'''Cultural:''' Addressing the use of ''nigger'' by [[African-Americans|Black people]], US [[intellectual]] [[Cornel West]] said, “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. . . . 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 journal
| last = Mohr
| first = Tim
| author-link = Tim Mohr
| title = Cornel West Talks Rhymes and Race: He says artists can use words newspapers can't
| journal = [[Playboy]]
| volume = 54, no. 11
| pages = 44
| month = November
| year = 2007}}</ref> Contemporarily, the implied [[racism]] of the word ''nigger'' has rendered its usages social [[taboo]]. In the US, magazines and newspapers do not use it, instead printing “family-friendly” [[censorship|censored]] versions, usually “n*gg*r”, “n**ger”, “n——”, and “the N-word”; however, historians and [[social activism|social activists]], such as [[Dick Gregory]], criticize the euphemisms and their usage as intellectually dishonest, because using the euphemism “the N-word” instead of ''nigger'' robs younger generations of Americans of the full [[African-American history|history of Black people in America]].

'''Political:''' [[Louisiana]] Governor [[Earl Long]] used ''nigger'' in advocating full voting rights for [[African Americans|Black Americans]]; in that time, like ''colored'' and ''negro'', it was mainstream usage in the [[American South]]. In 1948, the ''[[Washington Post]]'' newspaper’s coverage of the [[President of the United States|presidential]] campaign of the [[racial segregation|segregationist]] politician [[Strom Thurmond]], employed the [[periphrasis]] “the less-refined word for black people”. {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} In explaining his refusal to be [[conscription|conscripted]] to fight the [[Vietnam War]] (1945–75), professional boxer [[Muhammed Ali]] said, “No Vietcong ever called me nigger”;<ref>{{cite book
| last = Kennedy
| first = Randall
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Nigger: the strange career of a troublesome word
| publisher = Random House
| date = 2002
| location =
| page = 28
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=yb8LmupcLdkC&pg=PA28
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 9780375421723}}</ref> later, his modified answer was the title ''[[No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger]]'' (1968) of a documentary about the front-line lot of the US Army Black soldier in Vietnam combat.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Rollins
| first = Peter C.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Columbia companion to American history on film: how the movies have portrayed the American past
| publisher = Columbia UP
| date = 2003
| location =
| page = 341
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=xB1rhm6Ke2UC&pg=PA341
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 9780231112222}}</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
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = Muhammad Ali: trickster in the culture of irony
| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell
| date = 2003
| location =
| pages = 105-107
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=MI1cTZGcDVgC&pg=PA105
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 9780745628714}}</ref> Moreover, on 28 February 2007, in the spirit of [[political correctness]], the [[New York City Council]] symbolically banned, with a formal resolution, the use of the word ''nigger''; there is no penalty for using it. The New York City resolution also requires excluding from [[Grammy Award]] consideration every song whose lyrics contain the word ''nigger''.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2023817,00.html
|title=New York city council bans use of the N-word
|author=Ed Pilkington
|date={{Date|2007-03-01}}
|publisher=Guardian Unlimited
|accessdate=2007-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Res%200693-2007.htm?CFID=425440&CFTOKEN=70865698
|title=Res. No. 693-A &mdash; Resolution declaring the NYC Council’s symbolic moratorium against using the “N” word in New York City.
|publisher=New York City Council
|accessdate=2007-08-17}}.</ref>

'''Sport:''' In the first half of the twentieth century, before [[Major League Baseball]] was racially integrated, dark-skinned and dark-complexion players were nicknamed ''Nig'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.attheyard.com/InRetrospect/printer_699.shtml|title=1920: Corsicana's Finest Hour}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~txnavarr/biographies/c/clark_jay_justin.htm|title=Jay Justin "Nig" Clark of Navarro County, Texas}}</ref> examples are: [[Johnny Beazley]] (1941–49), [[Joe Berry (second baseman)|Joe Berry]] (1921–22), [[Bobby Bragan]] (1940–48), [[Nig Clarke]] (1905–20), [[Nig Cuppy]] (1892–1901), [[Nig Fuller]] (1902), [[Johnny Grabowski]] (1923–31), [[Nig Lipscomb]] (1937), [[Charlie Niebergall]] (1921–24), [[Nig Perrine]] (1907), and [[Frank Smith (starting pitcher)|Frank Smith]] (1904–15). Moreover, the [[anagram]] euphemism ''Ginger'' was used instead of ''nigger'', as a “polite company usage”. {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} The 1930s movie [[The Bowery]] with [[George Raft]] and [[Wallace Beery]] includes a NYC sports-bar named “Nigger Joe’s”.

===Denotational extension===
The denotations of ''nigger'' also comprehend non-white and racially disadvantaged people; to wit, the US politician [[Ron Dellums]] said, “. . . it's time for somebody to lead all of America’s niggers”.<ref>{{cite news
|url=
http://newsblaze.com/story/2006112812530200001.sp/topstory.html
|title=Does the News Media Patronize the Black Community? asks United Voices for a Common Cause
|publisher=News Blaze
|author=send2press newswire
|accessdate=2007-08-17}}.</ref> In 1969, in the UK, in the course of being interviewed by a ''[[Nova (magazine)|Nova]]'' magazine reporter, 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]]” (1972) — about the virtually universal exploitation of woman — proved socially and politically controversial to US sensibilities. In 1978, singer [[Patti Smith]] used the word in “[[Rock N Roll Nigger]]”. In 1979, singer [[Elvis Costello]] used ''nigger'' in “[[Oliver's Army]]”, a state-of-the-world-today song inspired by adolescent British Army soldiers on occupation duty in [[Northern Ireland]]. Later, the producers of the British talent show ''[[Stars in Their Eyes]]'' forced a contestant to [[censorship|censor]] the second-verse lyrics line, “. . . all it takes is one itchy trigger — One more widow, one less [[white nigger]]” to the [[euphemism|euphemistic]] “. . . one less white figure”. Moreover, in his autobiography, ''[[White Niggers of America|White Niggers of America: The Precocious Autobiography of a Quebec “Terrorist”]]'' (1968), [[Pierre Vallières]], a [[Front de libération du Québec]] leader refers to the oppression of the [[Québécois (word)|Québécois people]] in [[North America]].

===Other languages===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2009}}
In [[Romance languages]], including the varieties of Latin American and African Spanish and Portuguese, contain [[cognate]]s derived from the Latin {{lang|la|''niger''}}, [[homophone|homophonic]] to the English word ''nigger'', are native usages that do not connote the racism of the English. The two most common Portuguese words for ''black'' — ''negro'' and ''preto'' — as noun and adjective, denote the color black, thus, [[Rio Negro]] (Black River); however, when applied to a person, ''preto'' is racist. Like-wise, the French cognate {{lang|fr|''nègre''}} is a racist colonial usage, unlike ''noir'' (black color).

Derivations from the Latin {{lang|la|''niger''}} have entered non-Romance languages, and do not pejoratively refer to non-white people; the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] ''{{lang|hu|néger}}'' and the [[Latvian language|Latvian]], ''nēģeris'' objectively denote Black [[African people|Africans]]; typically, these languages spell and pronounce ''nigger'' as an English [[loanword]] with its original racist denotations and connotations. In [[Nazi]] propaganda, the racist German compound word ''[[niggerjazz]]'' denoted the [[jazz]] music native to the US, which Nazi [[ideology]] classified as a type of [[Degenerate art]] (''entartete Kunst''). In [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], ''shvartzer'' (black man, black woman) is racist usage, while ''neger'' is the standard usage.

In [[Russian language|Russian]], the word ''negr'' (“негр”), which sounds like ''nigger'', is the usual term for “black people”, which, despite its neutral denotation, is challenged because of the virtually-universal familiarity with US society’s racist usage of ''nigger''. Russian urban legends propose that Soviet documents used ''negr'' to denote “nationality” and “ethnic group” per regulations, instead of “Cameroonian”, “Ethiopian”, “American”, et cetera; however, the word ''chyornyi'' (“чёрный”) denoting “black (color)” is used as a moderately derogatory slur against all non-white and non-Asian peoples, usually applied against Middle Eastern and Caucasian people. Furthermore, the word ''chernozhopyi'' (“черножопый”, “black-assed”) is the harshest generic racist slur for non-white peoples; for Asian people, the Russian language contains different, specific derogatory and racist slurs.

===Literary===
Historically, ''nigger'' is controversial in literature as racist insult and common noun. The white photographer and writer, [[Carl Van Vechten]], a supporter of the [[Harlem Renaissance]] (1920s–30s), provoked controversy in the Black community with the title of his novel ''[[Nigger Heaven]]'' (1926), wherein the usage increased sales; of the controversy, [[Langston Hughes]] wrote:

{{Cquote|No book could possibly be as bad as ''Nigger Heaven'' has been painted. And no book has ever been better advertised by those who wished to damn it. Because it was declared obscene, everybody wanted to read it, and I’ll venture to say that more Negroes bought it than ever purchased a book by a Negro author. Then, as now, the use of the word ''nigger'' by a white was a flashpoint for debates about the relationship between Black culture and its White patrons.}}

In the US, the recurrent (reading [[curriculum|curricula]]) controversy about the ''vocabulary'' of the novel ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' (1885), by [[Mark Twain]] — American literature (usually) taught in US schools — about the Slave South, risks [[censorship]] because of 215 (counted) occurrences the word ''nigger'', most refer to Jim, Huckleberry’s escaped-slave raft-mate.<ref>{{cite web
| title= Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
| work=The Complete Works of Mark-Twain
| url=http://www.mtwain.com/Adventures_Of_Huckleberry_Finn/
| accessdate=2006-03-12}}</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
| accessdate=2006-03-13}}</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 the nineteenth-century ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''.

Moreover, unlike the literary escaped-slave Jim, ante-Bellum slaves used the artifice of self-deprecation essential to [[Uncle Tom|Tomming]], in pandering to societal racist assumptions about the black man’s low intelligence, by advantageously using the word ''nigger'' to escape the violence inherent to slavery.<ref>{{cite web
| author=Stephen Railton
| year=2005
| title=Tomming In Our Time
| work=[[University of Virginia]], Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
| url=http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/interpret/exhibits/tomming/tomminghp.html
| accessdate=2006-03-13}}</ref> Implicit to “Uncle Tomming” was the unspoken reminder to white folk that a presumably inferior and sub-human person could not, reasonably, be held responsible for poorly realized work, a kitchen fire, or any such catastrophic offense. The artificial self-deprecation deflected responsibility, in hope of escaping the violent wraths of overseer and master. Using ''nigger'' as a self-referential [[identity politics|identity]] term also was a way of avoiding white suspicion, of encountering an intelligent slave, and so put whites at their ease. In context, a slave who referred to himself, or another black man, as a ''nigger'' presumed the master’s ''perceiving'' him as a slave who has accepted his societally sub-ordinate role as private property, thus, not (potentially) [[Subversion (politics)|subversive]] of the [[authority]] of the master’s [[white supremacy]].

[[Image:And Then There Were None First Edition Cover 1939.jpg|thumb|right|200px|<small>'''The meanings of language:'''</small> The original title of ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' (1939), by [[Agatha Christie]].]]

Originally, ''Ten Little Niggers'' (1939) was the British title of [[Agatha Christie]]'s novel ''[[And Then There Were None]]'', also titled ''Ten Little Indians''. Other late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British literary usages suggest neutral usage. The popular [[Victorian era]] entertainment, the [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] operetta ''[[The Mikado]]'' (1885) twice uses the word ''nigger''. In the song ''I have a Little List'', the executioner, Ko-ko, sings of executing the “nigger serenader and the others of his race”, personified by [[blackface|black-faced]] singers singing [[minstrelsy|minstrel songs]]. In the song ''Let the Punishment fit the Crime'', the Mikado sings of having over-made-up ladies in court, “Blacked like a nigger/With permanent walnut juice”; the lyrics are changed for contemporary performances.<ref>{{cite web| title=The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd| work=| author=Michael Sragow| url=http://salon.com/ent/col/srag/1999/12/23/leigh/index2.html| date={{Date|1999-12-23}}| accessdate=2006-03-13}}</ref>

The [[W V Awdry|Reverend W. V. Awdry]]’s ''[[The Railway Series]]'' (1945–72) story ''[[List of Railway Series Books#Henry the Green Engine|Henry's Sneeze]]'', originally described soot-covered boys with the phrase “as black as niggers”.<ref name=Sibley>{{cite book |last=Sibley |first=Brian |authorlink=Brian Sibley |title=The Thomas the Tank Engine Man | publisher=Heinemann |location=London |date=1995 |pages=272–5| isbn=0-434-96909-5}}</ref> In 1972, after complaints, the description was edited to “as black as soot”, in the subsequent editions.<ref name=Sibley /> Rev. Awdry is best known for [[Thomas the Tank Engine]] (1946).

''How the Leopard Got His Spots'', in ''[[Just So Stories]]'' (1902), by R. Kipling, tells of an [[Ethiopian]] man and a [[leopard]], both originally sand-colored, deciding to camouflage themselves with painted spots, for hunting in tropical forest. The story originally included a scene wherein the leopard (now spotted) asks the Ethiopian man why he doesn’t want spots. In contemporary editions of ''How the Leopard Got His Spots'', the Ethiopian's original reply: “Oh, plain black’s best for a nigger”, has been edited to, “Oh, plain black’s best for me.” Again, Kipling uses the word in ''A Counting-Out Song'' (''Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides'', 1923), the rhyme reads: “[[Eenie Meenie]] Mainee, Mo! Catch a nigger by the toe!”

In short story, ''The Basement Room'' (1935), by [[Graham Greene]], the (sympathetic) servant character, Baines, tells the admiring boy, son of his employer, of his African British colony service, “You wouldn't believe it now, but I’ve had forty niggers under me, doing what I told them to”. Replying to the boy’s question: “Did you ever shoot a nigger?” Bains answers: “I never had any call to shoot. Of course I carried a gun. But you didn’t need to treat them bad, that just made them stupid. Why, I loved some of those dammed niggers.” The cinematic version of ''The Basement Room'' short story, ''[[The Fallen Idol (film)|The Fallen Idol]]'' (1948), directed by [[Carol Reed]], replaced novelist Greene’s ''niggers'' usage with ''natives''. {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

===Popular culture===
In the US and the UK, the word ''nigger'' featured in branding and packaging consumer products, e.g. “Nigger Hair Tobacco” and “Niggerhead Oysters”, [[Brazil nut]]s were called ''nigger toes'', et cetera. As racism became unacceptable in mainstream culture, the tobacco brand became “Bigger Hare” and the canned goods brand became “Negro Head”.<ref>{{cite news
| first=Wanda J.
| last=Ravernell
| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/15/HOG3ID66P11.DTL
| title=What's cute about racist kitsch?
| work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]
| publisher=
| date={{Date|2005-06-15}}
| accessdate=2006-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Jim Crow Museum
| work=[[Ferris State University]]
| url=http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/FAQ.htm
| accessdate=2006-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Hue & Cry
| work=Urban Legends Reference Pages: Racist Sofa Label
| url=http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/sofa.asp
| accessdate=2007-08-11}}</ref> The Chinese Nanhai De Xing Leather Shoes Habiliment Co., Ltd.'s online store describes the color of a model of man’s leather boots as “nigger-brown”.<ref>{{cite web
| Nanhai De Xing Leather Shoes Habiliment Co., Ltd.
| work=Online sales catalog
| url=http://listing.hk.business.yahoo.com/gb/2298/product_details_91024.html
| title=Leisure Boot
| accessdate=2007-08-11}}</ref>

'''Cinema:''' The movie ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' (1974) used ''nigger'' to ridicule US racism. In ''[[Kentucky Fried Movie]]'' (1977), the sequence titled “Danger Seekers” features a [[Stunt performer|stuntman]] effecting the dangerous stunt of shouting ''NIGGERS!!'' at a group of black people, then fleeing when they chased him.

'''Music:''' The [[Country music]] singer [[David Allan Coe]] used the racist words ''[[redneck]]'', ''[[white trash]]'', and ''nigger'' in the songs “If That Ain’t Country, I’ll Kiss Your Ass” and “Nigger Fucker”.<ref>http://www.myspace.com/davidallencoe1</ref> In the 1960s, record producer [[J. D. "Jay" Miller]] published pro-[[racial segregation]] music with the “Reb Rebel” label featuring racist songs by [[Johnny Rebel (singer)|Johnny Rebel]] and others, demeaning Black Americans and the Black Civil Rights movement.<ref name="Broven">John Broven, ''South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous''. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican, 1983, p. 252f.</ref>

'''Television:''' In the British television series ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', in “[[The Germans]]” episode, the Major Gowen character used ''niggers'' to describe West Indian and Indian cricketers. In ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', comedians [[Chevy Chase]] and [[Richard Pryor]] say ''nigger'' and ''[[honky]]'' to each other in a word-association interview. Comedians such as Pryor, [[Redd Foxx]], [[Eddie Murphy]], and [[Lenny Bruce]] used ''nigger'' in their comedy. Contemporarily, [[Hip hop music|rap]] groups such as [[N.W.A.]] (Niggaz with Attitudes), re-popularized the usage in their songs. Some episodes of ''[[Sanford & Son]]'' were [[censorship|censored]] and not broadcast, because Foxx used the word ''nigger''. In a ''[[Mad TV]]'' sketch titled “Real Mother****ing Talk”, a character says “nigger, please” before other Black people, such as [[Xzibit]]. In episode 20 of the ''[[Family Matters]]'' second season, the graffito ''nigger'' was written on [[Laura Winslow]]’s school locker, and found a note addressed to her that read: “If you want to learn Black History, Go back to Africa”. Elsewhere, [[Dog the Bounty Hunter]] used ''nigger'' in referring to his son’s girlfriend. <ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/01/dog.chapman.ap/index.html</ref> The American comedian [[Michael Richards]] called a heckler ''nigger'' during his [[stand-up comedy]] routine.<ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15816126/</ref>

'''Theatre:''' The musical ''[[Show Boat]]'' (from 1927 until 1946) features the word and ''nigger'' as originally integral to the lyrics of “[[Ol' Man River]]” and “Cotton Blossom”; although deleted from the cinema versions, it is included to the 1988 EMI recording of the original score. Musical theatre historian [[Miles Kreuger]] and conductor [[John McGlinn]] propose that the word was not an insult, but a blunt illustration of how white people then perceived black people.

===Cultural controversy===
In April 2007, a dark brown leather sofa set, sold by Vanaik Furniture and Mattress Store in [[Toronto, Canada]], was labelled as “Nigger-brown” colour. Investigation determined that the Chinese manufacturer used an outdated version of [[Kingsoft]]'s Chinese-to-English translation software for writing the tags; it translated the Chinese “dark-brown” characters to “Nigger-brown”, and neither the Canadian supplier nor the store owner had noticed the incorrectly translated tag; subsequently, Kingsoft corrected its translation software.<ref>[http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/200265 Racial slur on sofa label stuns family] by [[Jim Wilkes]] [[Toronto Star]], April 06, 2007 (retrieved 2 February 2009).</ref><ref>[http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/sofa.asp Racist Sofa Label: Huy & Cry] at Snopes.com</ref><ref>[http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_9743.aspx Offensive Couch Update] [[City News]], April 13, 2007 (retrieved on February 2, 2009).</ref><ref>[http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/41061-Translation_software_blamed_for_sofa_tag.php Translation software blamed for sofa tag] by ''Furniture Today'' staff, May 7, 2007 (retrieved 2 February 2009).</ref> Chinese phrases can be cut and paste into [http://www.systranet.com/ SYSTRANET], thus the:
* 深 - 棕 - 色 characters individually translate as ''deep''-''brown''-''colour''
* 深棕色 collectively, they translate as ''nigger-brown'' (as late as 25 September 2009)

In Hong Kong English, the phrase ''nigger-brown'' is a commonly used colour denotation routinely used in British newspapers, decades earlier, without [[racism|racist]] connotation.

===Derivations===
*''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"/>

*In [[American English]]: ''nigger lover'' initially applied to [[abolitionist]]s, then to white folk sympathetic towards Black Americans.<ref>"The Color of Words", by Philip Herbst, 1997, ISBN 1877864978, [http://books.google.com/books?id=UiZQH5gHuggC&pg=PA166&dq=%22nigger+lover%22&lr=#PPA166,M1 p. 166]</ref> ''Sand nigger'', an [[ethnic slur]] against [[Arab]]s, and ''timber nigger'', an ethnic slur against [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|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|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|issue=26|date=Winter, 1999-2000|pages=86–96 [87]}}</ref>

*In [[British English]], the maritime term ''niggerhead'' denotes a [[bollard]] mooring post, made with an old cannon, partly buried muzzle-up, topped with an over-sized cannonball; it is sailor’s jargon for an isolated, navigation-hazard coral outcropping. (see [[quay]]).

*In [[Irish English]], the colloquialism “nigger’s [[testicles|knackers]]” describes prunes. In Belgium, a popular [[chocolate]] is known as ''Negerinnetetten'' (Negress’s tits), but is elsewhere sold as ''Melo-cakes''. In Holland, ''Negerzoenen'' (Negro kisses) now are ''Buys Zoenen'' (Buys Kisses). In Sweden, the traditional [[Chokladboll|Negerbollar]] (Negro balls) now are called Chocolate balls, Oat balls, and Coco-balls. {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

*In the [[Victorian era]], the 1840s ''[[Morning Chronicle]]'' newspaper report series ''[[London Labour and the London Poor]]'', by [[Henry Mayhew]], records the usages ''nigger'' and ''niggard'' denoting a false bottom for a grate.<ref> vol 2 p6</ref>

*Flora and fauna nomenclatures include the word ''nigger''. The Arizonan nigger-head cactus, ''[[Echinocactus polycephalus]]'' is a round, cabbage-sized plant covered with large, crooked thorns. The colloquial names for [[echinacea]] (coneflower) are “Kansas niggerhead” and “Wild niggerhead”. In [[Oceania]], the “niggerhead termite” (''Nasutitermes graveolus'') is an Australian native.<ref>{{cite web
| title=Semiochemicals of Nasutitermes graveolus, the Niggerhead termite
| work=The Pherobase
| url=http://www.pherobase.com/database/species/species-Nasutitermes-graveolus.php
| accessdate=2006-03-12}}</ref>

*During the [[First World War]] (1914–18) US Army General [[John Pershing]]’s true nickname, ''Nigger Jack'', was [[euphemism|euphemized]] to ''Black Jack'', by reporters, to protect the sensibilities of readers, listeners, and viewers.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nps.gov/pwso/honor/pershing.htm
|title= Buffalo Soldier Cavalry Commander: General John J. Pershing
|publisher=[[U.S. National Park Service]]
|accessdate=2007-08-17}}</ref>

*In 1960, a stand at the stadium in [[Toowoomba, Queensland|Toowoomba]], [[Australia]], was named the “E. S. ‘Nigger’ Brown Stand” honoring 1920s [[Rugby league|rugby]] player [[Edward Stanley Brown]], so nicknamed since early life because of his ''pale'' white skin; so known all his life, his tombstone is engraved ''Nigger''. Moreover, lingusitically, [[Stephen Hagan]], a [[lecturer]] at the Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag Higher Education Center of the [[University of Southern Queensland]] sued the [[City of Toowoomba|Toowoomba council]] over the use of ''nigger'' in the stand’s name; the district and state courts dismissed his lawsuit. He appealed to the [[High Court of Australia]], who ruled the naming matter beyond federal jurisdiction. Ironically, the local Aboriginals, generally, did not share Mr Hagan’s opposition to ''nigger''. Undaunted, Mr Hagan appealed to the United Nations, winning their recommendation to the Australian federal government, that it force the [[Queensland]] state government to remove the word ''nigger'' from the “E. S. ‘Nigger’ Brown Stand” name. The Australian federal government thwarted hagan and the UN recommendation, by citing the High Court’s [[jurisdiction]] ruling; in September 2008, the stand was demolished. The Queensland Sports Minister, [[Judy Spence]], said that using ''Nigger'' would be unacceptable, either for the stand or on any commemorative plaque. The book ''The N Word: One Man’s Stand'' (2005), by Stephen Hagan, (Magabala Books, 2005, ISBN 978-1875641987) includes this episode in law and the language. Moreover, Hagan is writing a doctoral thesis titled ''The Origin, Maintenance, and Legitimization of the Word ‘Nigger’ in the Australian Vernacular''; and he has restarted his linguistic legal reform efforts against the [[Coon cheese]] [[brand]] name.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24409162-5012431,00.html
|title = League legend would have wanted sign to stay: grandson
|accessdate = 2008-09-27
|last = Bita
|first = Natasha
|date = {{Date|2008-09-27}}
|publisher = [[The Australian]]}}</ref><ref>Monaghan, Peter: ''Taking a Stand'', {{Date|2005-07-29}}
in [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]], available at
{{cite web
|url = http://lettrist.blogspot.com/2005/07/australias-es-nigger-brown-stand-and.html
|title = Australia's E.S. 'Nigger' Brown Stand and "Judicial Restraint"
|accessdate = 2008-09-27
|date = {{Date|2005-07-29}}
|publisher = Prof. Andrew V. Uroskie}}</ref>

====Place names====
The word ''nigger'' features in official place-names, such as “[[Nigger Bill Canyon]]”, “[[Daniel Hughes (underground railroad)|Nigger Hollow]]”, and “[[Niggertown Marsh]]”. In 1967, the [[United States Board on Geographic Names]] changed the word ''nigger'' to ''Negro'' in 143 place names. “Nigger Head Mountain”, at [[Burnet, Texas]], was so named because the forest atop it resembled a black man’s hair. In 1966, the US First Lady, [[Lady Bird Johnson]], denounced the racist name, asking the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and the [[U.S. Forest Service]] to rename it, becoming “Colored Mountain” in 1968; and in central Texas, “Dead Nigger Creek” was renamed “Dead Negro Creek”. {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} “Nigger Grade” in [[Temecula, California]], named for Nate Harrison, an ex-slave and settler, was renamed “Nate Harrison Grade” in 1955, at the request of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People|NAACP]].<ref>{{cite web
| title=Nathan "Nigger Nate" Harrison (1823–1920)
| work=San Diego Historical Society
| url=http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/harrison/harrison.htm
| accessdate=2007-01-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Hill in Mariposa County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Mariposa&feature=Nigger+Hill
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Slough in Los Angeles County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Los+Angeles&feature=Nigger+Slough
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Valley in San Diego County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=San+Diego&feature=Nigger+Valley
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Canyon in San Diego County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=San+Diego&feature=Nigger+Canyon
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref>

The northwestern North America, in Canada and the US, features many uses of the word ''nigger''.<ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Joe Ridge in Humboldt County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Humboldt&feature=Nigger+Joe+Ridge
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Humboldt&feature=Nigger+Joe+Ridge
| title=Nigger Gulch in Butte County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Butte&feature=Nigger+Gulch
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Sam Slough in Glenn County, California
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| url=http://californiamaps.org/place.php?county=Glenn&feature=Nigger+Sam+Slough
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title=Nigger Joe Hill
| work=CaliforniaMaps.org
| title=Golden Gate Genealogy Forum
| url=http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gedcom/gedcom7a/gedr7179.ged
| accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref> At [[Penticton]], [[British Columbia]], Canada, “Niggertoe Mountain” was renamed [[Mount Nkwala]]. That racist place-name derived from a 1908 Christmas story about three black men who died in a blizzard; the next day, the bodies of two were found at the foot of the mountain. <ref>{{BCGNIS|45296|Niggertoe Mountain}}</ref> A point on the [[Lower Mississippi River]], in [[West Baton Rouge Parish]], named “Free Nigger Point” until the late twentieth century, first was renamed “Free Negro Point”, but currently is named “Wilkinson Point”.<ref>{{cite web
| title=Free Negro Point
| work=USGS Geographic Names Information System
| url={{Gnis3|535095}}
| accessdate=2006-03-12}}</ref> “Nigger Head Rock”, protruding from a cliff above Highway 421, north of [[Pennington Gap, Virginia]], was renamed “Great Stone Face” in the 1970s.

==Derivatives==
===Euphemism===
The [[euphemism]] “the N-word” became mainstream American English usage during the racially contentious murder trial of ex-footballer [[O.J. Simpson]] in 1995. Key prosecution witness Detective [[Mark Fuhrman]], of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) — who denied using racist language on duty — impeached himself with his prolific use of ''nigger'' in tape recordings about his police work. The recordings, by screenplay writer Laura McKinney, were from a 1985 research session wherein the detective assisted her with a screenplay about LAPD policewomen. Fuhrman excused his racism saying he used ''nigger'' in the context of his “[[good cop bad cop|bad-cop]]” persona. Linguistically, the popular press reporting and discussing Det. Fuhrman’s testimony substituted the “the N-word” euphemism in place of ''nigger''. {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

===Homophones===
{{lang|la|''Niger''}} occurs in Latinate scientific nomenclature and is the root word for some [[homophone]]s of ''nigger''; sellers of [[niger seed]] (used as bird feed), use the name ''Nyjer'' seed. The classical [[Latin spelling and pronunciation|Latin pronunciation]] {{IPA|/ˈniɡeɾ/}} sounds like the English {{IPA|/ˈnɪɡər/}}, occurring in biologic and [[anatomic]] names, such as ''[[Hyoscamus niger]]'' (black henbane). In American English, ''[[nigra]]'' is a [[euphuism|euphuistic]] pronunciation of ''negro'' used in the [[American South]] to “politely” speak of black people in non-racist company. {{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} ''Nigra'' is the Latin feminine form of ''niger'' (black), used in biologic and anatomic nomenclatures such as [[substantia nigra]] (black substance).

The words [[Controversies about the word "niggardly"|''niggardly'']] (miserly) and ''[[wiktionary:snigger|snigger]]'' (“to laugh derisively”) are unrelated to ''nigger''; ''niggard'' (miser) derives from the [[Old Norse]] ''nig'' (stingy), and the verb ''niggle'' derives from the verb ''nigla'' (“chew”, “gnaw”; and “potter at”). In the US, the words are often misheard as ''nigger'', and — out of ignorance — are mistakenly [[Controversies about the word "niggardly"|perceived 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 — whilst speaking with black colleagues, who took umbrage. After reviewing the misunderstanding, Mayor [[Anthony A. Williams|Anthony Williams]] offered to reinstate Mr Howard, who refused reinstatement for another job elsewhere in the mayor's government.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm
|title=D.C. Mayor Acted 'Hastily,' Will Rehire Aide
|author=Yolanda Woodlee
|publisher=Washington Post
|date={{Date|1999-02-04}}
|accessdate=2007-08-17}}</ref>

The [[portmanteau]] word ''[[wigger]]'' (white + nigger) denotes an adolescent white boy aping “street black behavior”, hoping acceptance to the [[hip hop]], [[thug]], and [[gangsta]] sub-cultures. In the British music business, ''ligger'' (“freeloader”) denotes someone seeking free entry to concerts; it derives from ''lig'' (“gig”, “event”) and the variations “to go ligging”.

===Onomatopœia===
{{Main|Nigga}}
Among the black community, the slur ''nigger'' is [[onomatopoeia|onomatopœically]] rendered as ''[[nigga]]'', a self-referential [[pronoun]] in [[African American Vernacular English]] usage popularised by the [[Rap]] and [[Hip-hop]] music cultures as in-group lexicon and speech, wherein it is not derogatory.<ref> [http://www.engl.niu.edu/rthompson/Anaphoric%20Nigga.doc The Anaphoric Nigga: Rap’s Linguistic Assault on the Semantics of Nigger], Richard Tony Thompson. [[Northern Illinois University]] Department of English</ref>

===''The Dam Busters'' film===
In the [[Second World War]] film, ''[[The Dam Busters (film)|The Dam Busters]]'' (1955), ''[[Nigger (dog)|Nigger]]'' is the name of a black dog belonging to [[Guy Gibson]] <ref>[http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/album/showphoto.php?photo=6074&size=big&cat=550 Warbird Photo Album — Avro Lancaster Mk.I]</ref> an [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] hero. In 1999, the British television network [[ITV]] broadcast a [[censorship|censored]] version with every utterance of ''[[Nigger (dog)|Nigger]]'' deleted. Replying to complaints against its censorship, ITV blamed the regional broadcaster, [[London Weekend Television]], which, in turn, blamed a junior employee as the unauthorised censor, (see [[political correctness]]). In June 2001, when ITV re-broadcast the censored version of ''The Dam Busters'', the [[Index on Censorship]] criticised it as “unnecessary and ridiculous” censorship breaking the continuity of the film and the story.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/jun/11/itv.broadcasting ITV attacked over Dam Busters censorship], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 11 June 2001</ref>

==See also==
*[[Controversies about the word "niggardly"]]
*[[Cultural appropriation]]
*[[Discrimination]]
*[[Kaffir (ethnic slur)]]
*[[List of ethnic group names used as insults]]
*[[List of ethnic slurs]]
*[[List of topics related to Black and African people]]
*[[Niggas vs. Black People]]
*[[Profanity]]
*[[Racism]]
*[[Reappropriation]]
*[[Taboo]]
*[[Wigger]]
*[[With Apologies to Jesse Jackson]], an episode of an animated comedy series, ''South Park'', where a character becomes a social pariah after saying "niggers" on Wheel of Fortune

*[[:Category:Profanity by language|Profanity by language]]
*[[:Category:Profanity|Category of English profanity]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{cite journal | author=Robert F. Worth | title=Nigger Heaven and the Harlem Renaissance | journal=African American Review | year=Fall 1995 | volume=29 | issue=3 | pages=461&ndash;473 | doi=10.2307/3042395}}
*{{cite encyclopedia | ency=The Oxford English Dictionary | edition=2 | year=1989 | article=nigger}}
*{{cite book | first=Robert J. | last=Swan | year=2003 | title=New Amsterdam gehenna: segregated death in New York City, 1630-1801 | publisher=Noir Verite Press | location=Brooklyn | isbn=0-9722813-0-4 | unused_data=|ISBN status=May be invalid - please double check }}
*{{cite book | first=Stephanie | last=Smith | year=2005 | title=Household words: bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, nigger, cyber | publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] | location=Minneapolis | isbn=0-8166-4552-3 }}
*{{cite book | first=Randall | last=Kennedy | authorlink= | coauthors= | year=2002 | title=[[Nigger (2002 book)|Nigger : the strange career of a troublesome word]] | publisher=Pantheon Books | location=New York | isbn=0-375-42172-6 }}
*{{cite book | first=Neely Jr. | last=Fuller | 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}}

==Further reading==
*J. Asim, ''The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why''. Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 0618197176.
*R. B. Moore, ''The Name "Negro": Its Origin And Evil Use''. Black Classics Press, 1992. ISBN 0933121350.
*R. Kennedy, ''Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word''. Vintage, 2003. ISBN 0375713719.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
*[http://www.streetgangs.com/magazine/053003niggas.php Analysis of the cultural uses of the word Nigga] by Alex Alonso of Street Gangs Magazine
*[http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/caricature/ "Nigger and Caricatures," Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University]
*[http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2420/Nigger_the_word_a_brief_history "Nigger (the word), a brief history!" from the African American Registry]
*[http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0208/semantic.php Appropriating a Slur in M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture]

[[Category:African American]]
[[Category:Ethnic and religious slurs]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]

[[da:Nigger]]
[[de:Nigger]]
[[id:Niger (istilah)]]
[[it:Negro#Dispregiativo]]
[[ja:ニガー]]
[[no:Nigger]]
[[pl:Nigger]]
[[simple:Nigger]]
[[sv:Nigger]]
[[tr:Nigger]]
[[zh:黑鬼]]

Revision as of 23:54, 13 October 2009

It is a term used by racist people to offend black people. It is used especially by racist white people.

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