miser

See also: Miser and misër

English

Etymology

From Middle English misser, from Late Latin miser (“wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, miserable, sick, ill, bad, worthless, etc.”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪzə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• :Rhymes: -aɪzə(ɹ)

Noun

miser (plural misers)

1. (derogatory) A person who hoards money rather than spending it; one who is cheap or extremely parsimonious. [late 16th c.]

   Synonym: see Thesaurus:miser

   Scrooge was a typical miser: spending nothing he could save, nor enjoying his wealth.

   • 1577, Antonio de Guevara, translated by Edward Hellowes, A Chronicle, Conteyning the Liues of Tenne Emperours of Rome […] , London: Ralph Newbery, page 257:

     […] foꝛ it was many times notoꝛious vnto al mẽ, yͭ he did eate in his houſe no other fleſh by the ſpace of iii. dayes, but on Hare, whiche was ſent him. He was ſuch a miſer to ſpend, ⁊ ſo deſirous to hooꝛd and lay vp money, yͭ had it not béene foꝛ ſome dayes of ſacrifices, oꝛ his bidden gueſts, not a moꝛsel of fleſh was eaten in his houſe: but only fed of his pꝛouiſion from his garden.

2. (obsolete) A person who is wretched or despicable; a wretch.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 206, column 1:

     […] a poore virgin ſir, an il-fauor’d thing ſir, but mine owne, a poore humour of mine ſir, to take that that no man elſe will: rich honeſtie dwels like a miſer ſir, in a poore houſe, as your Pearle in your foule oyſter.

3. A kind of earth auger, typically large-bored and often hand-operated.

Antonyms

• spendthrift

Derived terms

• miserly

Related terms

• miserable
• misery

Translations

skinflint or scrooge

• Arabic: بَخِيل m (baḵīl), بَخِيلَة f (baḵīla)
• Armenian: ժլատ (hy) (žlat), կծծի (hy) (kcci), գծուծ (hy) (gcuc), քցիպ (kʻcʻip)
• Bulgarian: скъперник (bg) m (skǎpernik), стипца (bg) f (stipca)
• Catalan: avar (ca) m, agarrat (ca), gasiu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 孤寒鬼 (gu¹ hon⁴ gwai²)

  Hokkien: 凍霜鬼／冻霜鬼 (tàng-sng-kúi)

  Mandarin: 吝嗇鬼／吝啬鬼 (zh) (lìnsèguǐ), 守財奴／守财奴 (zh) (shǒucáinú), 小气鬼 (zh) (xiǎoqìguǐ)

• Czech: držgrešle (cs) m, skrblík (cs) m, lakomec (cs) m
• Danish: gnier c, fedtsyl c
• Dutch: gierigaard (nl) m, vrek (nl) m,, krentenkakker (nl) m, krent (nl) m or f, schraper (nl) m
• Esperanto: avarulo, avarulino
• Faroese: kargapisa f, nábalsklógv f
• Fijian: mamaqi
• Finnish: saituri (fi), kitupiikki (fi), penninvenyttäjä, jutku (fi) (offensive)
• French: avare (fr) m, crevard (fr) m, grigou (fr) m, grippe-sou (fr) m, harpagon (fr) m, picsou (fr) m, pingre (fr) m, radin (fr) m, radine (fr) f, rat (fr) m, séraphin (fr) m (Quebec)
• Georgian: ძუნწი (ʒunc̣i)
• German: Geizhals (de) m, Geizkragen (de) m, Geiziger m, Geizige f, Pfennigfuchser (de) m, Pfennigfuchserin (de) f, Pfennigklauber m, Pfennigklauberin f, Rappenspalter m (Swiss German), Rappenspalterin f, Knauser m, Knauserin f, Knicker m, Knickerin f
• Greek: τσιγγούνης, φιλάργυρος (tsingoúnis, filárgyros), φραγκοφονιάς m (fragkofoniás)

  Ancient: θρῑ́ψ m (thrī́ps)

• Hebrew: קמצן (he) m (qamtsan)
• Hindi: कंजूस (hi) (kañjūs)
• Hungarian: fösvény (hu), sóher (hu), smucig (hu)
• Icelandic: nirfill (is) m
• Irish: cníopaire m
• Italian: avaro (it) m, avara (it) f, pitocco (it) m, pitocca (it) f, spilorcio (it) m, spilorcia (it) f, taccagno (it) m, taccagna (it) f, tirchio (it) m, tirchia (it) f
• Japanese: 守銭奴 (ja) (しゅせんど, shusendo), ケチ (ja) (kechi), けちんぼう (ja) (kechinbō)
• Korean: 수전노 (ko) (sujeonno)
• Latin: avarus m, avara f, parcēprōmus m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Pennschieter m, Pennschieterin f, Pennschietersch f, Pennschietersche f, Giezknuppen m

• Macedonian: циција (cicija), скржавец m (skržavec)
• Malayalam: പിശുക്കൻ (ml) m (piśukkaṉ), അറുപിശുക്കൻ m (aṟupiśukkaṉ), ലുബ്ധൻ (ml) m (lubdhaṉ)
• Maori: atuapo, porokaihākere, kaihākere, kaikoropeke, ringapoto, tōhē
• Mon: အိက်ခအေတ်
• Norman: agravé m, avare m, rapinneux m
• Norwegian: gjerrigknark (no) m
• Occitan: sarrat (oc) m, cusson (oc) m, avar (oc) m
• Ottoman Turkish: جام گوز (cam göz)
• Persian: خسیس (fa) (xasis), اسکروج (eskoruj)
• Polish: kutwa (pl) f, sknera (pl) m, sknera (pl) f, sknerus (pl) m, skąpiec (pl) m, dusigrosz (pl) m
• Portuguese: avarento (pt) m, avarenta (pt) f, mão-de-vaca (pt), sovina (pt) m or f, muquirana (pt) m or f (Brazil, slang), pão-duro (pt) m or f (Brazil, slang), forreta (pt) m or f (Portugal, slang)
• Romanian: zgârcit (ro)
• Russian: скря́га (ru) m or f (skrjága), жа́дина (ru) m or f (žádina), скупе́ц (ru) m (skupéc), скупердя́й (ru) m (skuperdjáj), крохобо́р (ru) m (kroxobór), курку́ль (ru) m (kurkúlʹ), жмот (ru) m (žmot)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шкртац m, шкртица f, тврдица f

  Roman: škrtac (sh) m, škrtica (sh) f, tvrdica (sh) f

• Spanish: , avaro (es) m, tacaño (es) f, rata (es) m or f, pesetero (es) m, agarrado (es) m (colloquial), roñoso (es) m (colloquial), codo (es) m (colloquial, Mexico), cicatero (es) m, mano de guagua (es) f (Chile), mezquino (es) m
• Swahili: mbahili
• Swedish: gnidare (sv) c, girigbuk (sv) c, snåljåp (sv) c, snållänning (slang)
• Tagalog: kuripot, singgi
• Telugu: లోభి (te) (lōbhi), పిసినారి (te) (pisināri), పీనాసి (te) (pīnāsi), పీనాశి (pīnāśi)
• Turkish: cimri (tr), pinti (tr), hasis (tr)
• Urdu: چنڈال m
• Vilamovian: gȧjcwonst m, gȧjcwenst pl
• Volapük: (♂♀) lavaran (vo), (♂) hilavaran, (♀) jilavaran
• Yiddish: קמצן (kamtsn), סקנער m (skner), סקנערוק m (skneruk)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Czech: žid (cs) (offensive)
• Danish: nærigrøv c

See also

• misère

Further reading

• “miser”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “miser”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “miser”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• IMers, rimes, mires, remis, Miers, Rimes, reism, Mires, Reims, Meirs, riems, Simer, emirs, reims

French

Etymology

From mise +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.ze/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

miser

1. (gambling) to bet (place a bet)

Conjugation

Conjugation of miser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	miser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	misant /mi.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		misé /mi.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	mise /miz/	mises /miz/	mise /miz/	misons /mi.zɔ̃/	misez /mi.ze/	misent /miz/
	imperfect	misais /mi.zɛ/	misais /mi.zɛ/	misait /mi.zɛ/	misions /mi.zjɔ̃/	misiez /mi.zje/	misaient /mi.zɛ/
	past historic2	misai /mi.ze/	misas /mi.za/	misa /mi.za/	misâmes /mi.zam/	misâtes /mi.zat/	misèrent /mi.zɛʁ/
	future	miserai /miz.ʁe/	miseras /miz.ʁa/	misera /miz.ʁa/	miserons /miz.ʁɔ̃/	miserez /miz.ʁe/	miseront /miz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	miserais /miz.ʁɛ/	miserais /miz.ʁɛ/	miserait /miz.ʁɛ/	miserions /mi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	miseriez /mi.zə.ʁje/	miseraient /miz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	mise /miz/	mises /miz/	mise /miz/	misions /mi.zjɔ̃/	misiez /mi.zje/	misent /miz/
	imperfect2	misasse /mi.zas/	misasses /mi.zas/	misât /mi.za/	misassions /mi.za.sjɔ̃/	misassiez /mi.za.sje/	misassent /mi.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	mise /miz/	—	misons /mi.zɔ̃/	misez /mi.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• miser sur le mauvais cheval

Descendants

• → Romanian: miza

Further reading

• “miser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• émirs, mires, mirés, Reims, remis, rimes, rîmes

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *misseros, of unknown origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mēwdʰ- (“to complain, be emotional about”), the same root of Latin maereō and Ancient Greek μῖσος (mîsos, “hatred”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ser/, [ˈmɪs̠ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ser/, [ˈmiːs̬er]

Adjective

miser (feminine misera, neuter miserum, comparative miserior, superlative miserrimus, adverb miserē or miseriter); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. poor, wretched, pitiful
   • ca. 54 BC, Catullus. Catullus 8

     Miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre

     Poor Catullus, stop with the nonsense

   • 29 bc. Vergil. Aeneid, Book I

     nōn ignāra malī miserīs succurrere discō

     being not unacquainted with woe, I learn to help the unfortunate

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.517:

     ‘dīque virīque locī, miserae succurrite mātrī!’

     “Gods and men of this place, hasten [your] aid to a wretched mother!”
     (The poetic voice is that of Ino (Greek mythology).)

2. miserable, unhappy

   Synonyms: maestus, trīstis, infēlīx, aeger

   Antonyms: laetus, alacer, fēlīx

3. worthless, null

   Synonyms: vīlis, inānis

4. tragic, unfortunate
5. sick

   Synonyms: aeger, languidus, fessus

   Antonyms: sānus, salvus, validus, integer, intāctus, salūber

6. tormenting

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	miser	misera	miserum		miserī	miserae	misera
Genitive	miserī	miserae	miserī		miserōrum	miserārum	miserōrum
Dative	miserō		miserō		miserīs
Accusative	miserum	miseram	miserum		miserōs	miserās	misera
Ablative	miserō	miserā	miserō		miserīs
Vocative	miser	misera	miserum		miserī	miserae	misera

Derived terms

• misellus
• misereō
• miseria
• misericors
• miserulus
• miseror

Related terms

• miserābilis
• miserandus
• miserātiō
• miserātor / misertor
• misericordia

Descendants

• Eastern Romance:
  • Romanian: meser, measer
• Italian: misero
• Old French: mezre
• → Catalan: míser
• → Portuguese: mísero
• → Spanish: mísero
• → Albanian: mjerë (disputed)
• → English: miser
• → Romanian: mizer

References

• “miser”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “miser”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• miser in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to live a happy (unhappy) life: vitam beatam (miseram) degere
    
• H. H. Mallinckrodt, Latijn Nederlands woordenboek (Aula n° 24), Utrecht-Antwerpen, Spectrum, 1959 [Latin - Dutch dictionary in Dutch]