See niggle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for niggle meaning in English (8.6kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "no",
"3": "nigla",
"t": "to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”)",
"name": "bor"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "hnøggr",
"t": "stingy; miserly"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hnēaw",
"t": "stingy; niggardly"
},
"expansion": "Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "niggard"
},
"expansion": "niggard",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "niggles",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "niggle (plural niggles)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2012, Anna Kessel, “London 2012: Christian Taylor aims high as Phillips Idowu stays away”, in The Guardian",
"text": "The Olympic medal contender's back problem has been described as a \"niggle\" by the head coach, Charles van Commenee, but Porter's friend and former team-mate Danielle Carruthers revealed that the injury is playing on the Briton's mind.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “After some alarms, Sleeper awakens”, in Rail, page 47",
"text": "He declared that it would take until the early New Year for all the faults and niggles to be ironed out, and that the rest of 2019 would be deemed to be a 'bedding in' period.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A minor complaint or problem."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-noun-PtpFcIWr",
"links": [
[
"minor",
"minor"
],
[
"complaint",
"complaint"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "quibble"
},
{
"word": "split hairs"
},
{
"word": "cavil"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"Small, cramped handwriting."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-noun-Cv42k3jf",
"links": [
[
"cramped",
"cramped"
],
[
"handwriting",
"handwriting"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) Small, cramped handwriting."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈnɪɡəl/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪɡəl"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-niggle.wav",
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"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "niggle"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "niggler"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "niggly"
}
],
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "no",
"3": "nigla",
"t": "to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”)",
"name": "bor"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "hnøggr",
"t": "stingy; miserly"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hnēaw",
"t": "stingy; niggardly"
},
"expansion": "Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "niggard"
},
"expansion": "niggard",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "niggles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "niggling",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "niggled",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "niggled",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
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{
"args": {},
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"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"To trifle with; to deceive; to mock."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-verb-AX7cZ-QX",
"links": [
[
"trifle",
"trifle"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, obsolete) To trifle with; to deceive; to mock."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-verb-kZnEg6tP",
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive) To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner."
],
"tags": [
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-verb-UBKs3U9v",
"links": [
[
"dwell",
"dwell"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "nitpick"
},
{
"word": "split hairs"
},
{
"word": "cavil"
}
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "muggenziften"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "niuhottaa"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "akadékoskodik"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "kukacoskodik"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "kötekedik"
},
{
"_dis1": "1 2 83 2 11",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "szőröz"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To fidget, fiddle, be restless."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-verb-R68XST7M",
"links": [
[
"fidget",
"fidget"
],
[
"fiddle",
"fiddle"
],
[
"restless",
"restless"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, chiefly UK) To fidget, fiddle, be restless."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"intransitive"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "suetja se",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "суетя се"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "peuteren"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "frunniken"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "izeg-mozog"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "mocorog"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "fészkelődik"
},
{
"_dis1": "8 6 3 78 5",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sujetítʹsja",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "суети́ться"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "3 20 2 3 27 8 37",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1893, Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches, page 177",
"text": "I can see him now with his one eye closed as he came niggling along, and didn't he just give me a grandfather's blessing!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To walk with short steps."
],
"id": "en-niggle-en-verb-sE8i3KKX",
"links": [
[
"walk",
"walk"
],
[
"short",
"short"
],
[
"step",
"step"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, UK, dialect, archaic) To walk with short steps."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"archaic",
"dialectal",
"intransitive"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈnɪɡəl/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪɡəl"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-niggle.wav",
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"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "niggle"
}
{
"categories": [
"English 2-syllable words",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms borrowed from Norwegian",
"English terms derived from Norwegian",
"English terms derived from Old Norse",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with unknown etymologies",
"English verbs",
"Rhymes:English/ɪɡəl",
"Rhymes:English/ɪɡəl/2 syllables"
],
"etymology_templates": [
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"args": {
"1": "en",
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},
"expansion": "uncertain",
"name": "unc"
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "no",
"3": "nigla",
"t": "to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”)",
"name": "bor"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "hnøggr",
"t": "stingy; miserly"
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"expansion": "Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hnēaw",
"t": "stingy; niggardly"
},
"expansion": "Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "niggard"
},
"expansion": "niggard",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "niggles",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "niggle (plural niggles)",
"name": "en-noun"
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],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2012, Anna Kessel, “London 2012: Christian Taylor aims high as Phillips Idowu stays away”, in The Guardian",
"text": "The Olympic medal contender's back problem has been described as a \"niggle\" by the head coach, Charles van Commenee, but Porter's friend and former team-mate Danielle Carruthers revealed that the injury is playing on the Briton's mind.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “After some alarms, Sleeper awakens”, in Rail, page 47",
"text": "He declared that it would take until the early New Year for all the faults and niggles to be ironed out, and that the rest of 2019 would be deemed to be a 'bedding in' period.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A minor complaint or problem."
],
"links": [
[
"minor",
"minor"
],
[
"complaint",
"complaint"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "quibble"
},
{
"word": "split hairs"
},
{
"word": "cavil"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses"
],
"glosses": [
"Small, cramped handwriting."
],
"links": [
[
"cramped",
"cramped"
],
[
"handwriting",
"handwriting"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) Small, cramped handwriting."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈnɪɡəl/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪɡəl"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-niggle.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-niggle.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-niggle.wav.mp3",
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"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"word": "niggle"
}
{
"categories": [
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms borrowed from Norwegian",
"English terms derived from Norwegian",
"English terms derived from Old Norse",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with unknown etymologies",
"English verbs",
"Rhymes:English/ɪɡəl",
"Rhymes:English/ɪɡəl/2 syllables"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "niggler"
},
{
"word": "niggly"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "uncertain",
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{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "no",
"3": "nigla",
"t": "to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”)",
"name": "bor"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "hnøggr",
"t": "stingy; miserly"
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"expansion": "Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "hnēaw",
"t": "stingy; niggardly"
},
"expansion": "Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”)",
"name": "cog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "niggard"
},
"expansion": "niggard",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "First attested in 1599. Origin uncertain, but likely borrowed from dialectal Norwegian nigla (“to be stingy, to busy oneself with trifles”), ultimately from Old Norse hnøggr (“stingy; miserly”), related to Old English hnēaw (“stingy; niggardly”). More at niggard.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "niggles",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "niggling",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "niggled",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "niggled",
"tags": [
"past"
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}
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English transitive verbs"
],
"glosses": [
"To trifle with; to deceive; to mock."
],
"links": [
[
"trifle",
"trifle"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive, obsolete) To trifle with; to deceive; to mock."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English transitive verbs"
],
"glosses": [
"To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(transitive) To use, spend, or do in a petty or trifling manner."
],
"tags": [
"transitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English intransitive verbs"
],
"glosses": [
"To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details."
],
"links": [
[
"dwell",
"dwell"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive) To dwell too much on minor points or on trifling details."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "nitpick"
},
{
"word": "split hairs"
},
{
"word": "cavil"
}
],
"tags": [
"intransitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English intransitive verbs"
],
"glosses": [
"To fidget, fiddle, be restless."
],
"links": [
[
"fidget",
"fidget"
],
[
"fiddle",
"fiddle"
],
[
"restless",
"restless"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, chiefly UK) To fidget, fiddle, be restless."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"intransitive"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English dialectal terms",
"English intransitive verbs",
"English terms with archaic senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1893, Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches, page 177",
"text": "I can see him now with his one eye closed as he came niggling along, and didn't he just give me a grandfather's blessing!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To walk with short steps."
],
"links": [
[
"walk",
"walk"
],
[
"short",
"short"
],
[
"step",
"step"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(intransitive, UK, dialect, archaic) To walk with short steps."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"archaic",
"dialectal",
"intransitive"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈnɪɡəl/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪɡəl"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-niggle.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-niggle.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-niggle.wav.mp3",
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"tags": [
"Southern-England"
],
"text": "Audio (Southern England)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "muggenziften"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "niuhottaa"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "akadékoskodik"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "kukacoskodik"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "kötekedik"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to dwell too much on minor points",
"word": "szőröz"
},
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "suetja se",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "суетя се"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "peuteren"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "frunniken"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "izeg-mozog"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "mocorog"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"word": "fészkelődik"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sujetítʹsja",
"sense": "to fidget, to fiddle, to be restless",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "суети́ться"
}
],
"word": "niggle"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.