stingy

English

Etymology 1

Uncertain, possibly from stinge, a dialectal variation of sting (verb).

Pronunciation

• enPR: stĭnʹjē, IPA^(key): /ˈstɪnd͡ʒi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnd͡ʒi

Adjective

stingy (comparative stingier, superlative stingiest)

1. Unwilling to spend, give, or share; ungenerous; mean.
   • 1909, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter XVIII, in Anne of Avonlea:

     "Well, I'm doing my best to grow," said Davy, "but it's a thing you can't hurry much. If Marilla wasn't so stingy with her jam I believe I'd grow a lot faster."

2. Small, scant, meager, insufficient.
   • 1985 April 13, Charles Henry Fuller, “Learning to Draw my Name”, in Gay Community News, page 8:

     The realization of this joint oppression is like discovering that the stingy crusts of bread being held out by society have mold on them.

   • 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     As the moon wheels around Earth every 28 days and shows us a progressively greater and then stingier slice of its sun-lightened face, the distance between the moon and Earth changes, too. At the nearest point along its egg-shaped orbit, its perigee, the moon may be 26,000 miles closer to us than it is at its far point.

Usage notes

Usage of "stingy of" was about as common as usage of "stingy with" until about 1900 but became much less common by and since 1920.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:stingy

Derived terms

• stinge
• stingily
• stinginess

 

Translations

unwilling to spend or give

• Afrikaans: suinig (af)
• Arabic: بَخِيل (baḵīl)

  Gulf Arabic: بخيل m (baḵīl), جعص m (jiʕṣ)

  Hijazi Arabic: بَخِيل (baḵīl)

• Armenian: ժլատ (hy) (žlat)
• Azerbaijani: simic (az), dargöz, xəsis (az), qaraçı (sometimes offensive)
• Belarusian: хці́вы (xcívy), пра́гны (práhny), хі́жы (xížy), скупы́ (skupý)
• Bulgarian: стиснат (bg) (stisnat), скъпернически (skǎperničeski)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: garrepa (ca), aferrat (ca), gasiu (ca), escasser (ca), taquí (ca)
• Cebuano: inot
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 孤寒 (gu¹ hon⁴), 小氣／小气 (siu² hei³)

  Mandarin: 吝嗇／吝啬 (zh) (lìnsè), 小氣／小气 (zh) (xiǎoqì), (informal) 摳門／抠门 (zh) (kōumén), 摳／抠 (zh) (kōu)

• Czech: lakomý (cs), chamtivý (cs)
• Dalmatian: avaraus
• Danish: fedtet, nærig (da), smålig, gerrig
• Dutch: gierig (nl)
• Esperanto: avara (eo)
• Finnish: nuuka (fi), itara (fi), kitsas (fi), pihi (fi), saita (fi)
• French: pingre (fr), chiche (fr), radin (fr), rapiat (fr)
• Galician: lambefoula, avaro
• Gallurese: scurzónu
• Georgian: წუწურაქი (c̣uc̣uraki), ძუნწი (ʒunc̣i), ხელმოჭერილი (xelmoč̣erili)
• German: geizig (de), knauserig (de), knausrig, gierig (de)
• Greek: τσιγκούνης (el) (tsigkoúnis)

  Ancient: φειδωλός (pheidōlós)

• Gujarati: કંજૂસ (kañjūs)
• Hawaiian: pī
• Hebrew: קמצן (he) m (kamtsán)
• Hindi: कंजूस (hi) (kañjūs), कृपण (hi) (kŕpaṇ)
• Hungarian: fösvény (hu), zsugori (hu), fukar (hu)
• Icelandic: nískur (is)
• Indonesian: pelit (id)
• Ingrian: kuiva
• Irish: sprionlaithe, ceachartha
• Italian: tirchio (it), avaro (it), taccagno (it)
• Japanese: けちな (ja) (kechi na), 吝嗇な (ja) (りんしょくな, rinshoku na), けちくさい (ja) (kechikusai)
• Khmer: កំណាញ់ (km) (kɑmnaɲ)
• Korean: 인색한 (insaekhan), 짠 (ko) (jjan)
• Krio: krabit
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tima (ku), çirûk (ku), çikûs (ku), bexîl (ku)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Laz: კიტიპიროზი (ǩiťip̌irozi)
• Lithuanian: šykštus
• Macedonian: алчен (alčen)
• Maori: mahuki, matamau, hākere, matapiko, tōhē
• Mongolian: нарийн (mn) (nariin)
• Norwegian: gjerrig (no)
• Occitan: cusson (oc), sarrat (oc), rascàs, avar (oc)
• Old English: hnēaw
• Ottoman Turkish: پیس (pis)
• Persian: خَسیس (fa) (xasis), کنس (fa) (kenes), بخیل (fa) (baxil)
• Polish: skąpy (pl), oszczędny (pl)
• Portuguese: avaro (pt), sovina (pt), pão-duro (pt)
• Romanian: zgârcit (ro), avar (ro)
• Russian: скупо́й (ru) (skupój), ска́редный (ru) (skárednyj), прижи́мистый (ru) (prižímistyj), жа́дный (ru) (žádnyj), а́лчный (ru) (álčnyj)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: pistriccu, asuríu, cananèu, priogòsu, stiticu, taccagnu

  Logudorese: arragatu, cogheddu, grengu, isurídu, istitigu, zeccòsu

• Sassarese: atziccaddu, migragnòsu, zecchincùru
• Scots: near the bane
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шкрт

  Roman: škrt (sh)

• Slovak: chamtivý, lakomý
• Slovene: pohlepen (sl), omamen
• Southern Thai: ขี้มัน
• Spanish: mezquino (es), tacaño (es), rácano, agarrado (es), amarrado (es), cicatero (es), roñoso (es), pesetero (es) (Spain), amarrete (es) (Latin America), mesquino m
• Swedish: snål (sv), girig (sv)
• Tagalog: sinding, kuripot, maramot
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ขี้เหนียว (th) (kîi-nǐao), กระดูกขัดมัน (th), เค็ม (th) (kem) (colloquial)
• Turkish: cimri (tr), pinti (tr)
• Ukrainian: жа́дібний (žádibnyj), жаді́бний (žadíbnyj), жа́дний (žádnyj), жадни́й (žadnýj), жадли́вий (žadlývyj), скупи́й (skupýj)
• Urdu: کنجوس (kanjūs)
• Vietnamese: bủn xỉn (vi), keo (vi), keo kiệt (vi), hà tiện (vi)
• Welsh: crintach
• Yiddish: קאַרג (karg)

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

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} gierig (nl)

Etymology 2

From sting +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• enPR: stĭngʹē, IPA^(key): /ˈstɪŋi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋi

Adjective

stingy (comparative stingier, superlative stingiest)

1. (informal) Stinging; able or inclined to sting.
   • 2015, Kelvin Smith, Four Little Soldiers, page 33:

     Bumble bee – Bumble bee / I send to you this sonnet, / But please don't be – Bumble bee / The stingy bee in my bonnet.

Derived terms

• stingy nettle

Translations

able to sting

• Bulgarian: жилещ (bg) (žilešt)
• Finnish: pistävä (fi)
• French: piquant (fr)
• German: stechend (de), stech- (de)
• Japanese: 刺しそうな (ja) (sashisō na)
• Romanian: înțepător (ro), pișcător (ro)
• Russian: жалящий (ru) m (žaljaščij)
• Turkish: rahatsız edici
• Welsh: coliog, pigog (cy)

Anagrams

• Yingst, stying, tyings