neger

Usage notes

• The word is not to be confused with the (etymologically related) Dutch word nikker, which is a term similar in meaning and offensiveness to English nigger.
• For many speakers in Belgium and the Netherlands it is a neutral albeit mainly colloquial way to refer to someone with a dark skin colour. Historically, the word was also used in formal registers, including in newspapers and literary works, but such use had become rare by the early 21st century.
• In Suriname, the word is a derogatory term, except when used in the compounds bosneger and stadsneger.^[1]
• In the Benelux, since about 2010, neger is increasingly considered to be hurtful, condescending and/or discriminatory, especially by black people, due to the offensiveness of the etymologically related English nigger and Negro.^[2][3][4] Prescriptivists may equate its offensiveness with that of nigger.
• There is evidence that at least some black speakers have reappropriated the word.^[5][6]
• The synonyms zwarte, zwarte persoon/man/vrouw, or persoon/man/vrouw met Afrikaanse roots^[7] can be used as neutral alternatives in all geographies and circumstances. There is also some use of the neologistic prefix Afro-, which is used similarly to English African-. It can be added as a prefix to any nationality or ethnicity to indicate African roots; for example: Afro-Nederlander (“African Dutchman”), Afro-Belg (“African Belgian”), Afro-Vlaming (“African Fleming”) and Afro-Surinamer (“African Surinamese”). These are neutral alternatives in most circumstances; however, within Suriname, Afro-Surinamer is a somewhat more politically charged term, as it is mostly used to emphasize unity between the two black ethnicities of Creoles and Maroons.

Synonyms

• zwarte

Derived terms

• bosneger
• dobberneger
• dresneger
• excuusneger
• negeren
• Negerengels
• negerin
• negerslaaf
• negerstam
• negerzoen
• nepneger
• stadsneger

Related terms

• negroïde

Descendants

• Afrikaans: neger
• Negerhollands: neeger

References

Usage notes

• Has undergone a similar development to English negro. Newspapers abandoned the word in the 1970s, in favor of terms like svart (“black”), färgad (“colored”) (now often considered derogatory), and afrikan (“African”). Sometimes used in a more-or-less neutral way by old people.
• The pluralization with -ar, although attested as early as 1756,^[1] is less common and omitted from several dictionaries.

Declension

Synonyms

• blåman
• svarting

Derived terms

• negerboll
• negerkyss
• negerslav
• blåneger

Descendants

• → Finnish: neekeri