where did the "n" word come from?
606218
It came from the word "Negro" which is Spanish (I think) for the word black. In slavery times and for a while afterword, it was a more polite way to refer to black people (if polite can be used in this context at all). The 'n' word was a more derogatory, more crass derivative of the word "Negro".
312212
Your question is a strange one. Are you asking because you want to get in on calling blacks niggers?\n\nI can only tell you why it's not ok for me. First, the word is offensive and was created and used by bigots as a means to express their hatred toward blacks and destroy their esteem. The person using it is assuming a position of superiority over the person that they are directing it to. Second, there is no way to use the word nigger lovingly. To use it is to tell the other person that they are subhuman, the lowest, dirtiest, most worthless piece of crap that you have ever laid eyes on. There is no racial slur that can compete with it.\n\nTo use it as a white person is to subscribe to hatred. To use it as a black person shows profound ignorance (of the history and meaning of the word). Imagine kids who were born to a single mother. She resents the kids and calls them bastards all the time and beats them. Then one day the kids all get out of this bad situation and grow up to have kids of their own, and grandkids, and so on. Three generations later, all of the members of this big, extended family refer to each other as "bastard".  They adopted the hateful slur that was used by their oppressor in order to destroy their esteem to define themselves - anyone in their right mind would think that they were crazy.\n\nIf you hate black people, think they are scum, and believe you are superior to them, by all means, use the word nigger.
99581
Usually spoken in harsher words, but it comes from another way of saying "do not give a poop"\nIt means "I do not care."
940108
That would be B - nice.  It used to mean foolish, ignorant, etc.  It comes from the Latin "nescire - to not know".
12904
a derogatory word becomes offensive only when it is intended to be offensive.  This is why, I believe, "nigger" can be used by african-americans, but not by whites.  This is why my african-american student Antoine could call my white student Grace "my nigger", but Grace would have a more difficult time calling Antoine "my nigger"\nIt's all about context, connotations, and sensitivity (or insensitivity) to feelings.\nThis is also why this program turned the "n" word into a series of asterisks, rather than allowing my original post to go unedited.  The word is too commonly used in an offensive way, so even though I'm not trying to be offensive, it still won't let me use the word.
1127966
The word Negro stems from the Spanish word Negro, meaning black. In English, negro or neger became negar and finally nigger, most likely under influence of French nègre. Neger (sometimes spelled "neggar") prevailed in northern New York under the Dutch and also in Philadelphia, in its Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch communities. For example, the New York City African Burial Ground was originally known as "Begraaf Plaats van de Neger.\n\n"Nigger is an extremely derogatory term used for black people. During the period when slavery was practiced worldwide, and in particular by the United States and European countries, and for several decades after Europe and North America prohibited slavery, it was a standard, casual English term for black people. The word traditionally has been associated with an often casual contempt, a racist assumption of black inherent inferiority, even of bestiality, making it extremely pejorative. In the last 100 years it has also become a friendly and jocular term, used self referentially, among some black people.
44504
there are two supposed origins - \n1. is from the word nut, meaning hard seed, which is called "hnutu" in Old English or "*khnut" in Proto-Germanic\n\n2. from earlier be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (noun, plural) "any source of pleasure" (1617), from nut (described above). Sense influenced probably by metaphoric application of nut to "head" (1846, e.g. to be off one's nut "be insane," 1860). Nut "crazy person, crank" is attested from 1903, (British form nutter first attested 1958).
331422
Not exactly sure and can't find any detailed explanation.\n\nIt's one of two types of speech common in London.  One is called Jafaican and is a blend of Jamaican and African and the other is Tikkiny which is used to describe the dialect of Bangladeshi people.\n\nThere's nothing to explain the origin of the word - maybe it's derived from a Bangladeshi word.\n\nHere's a couple of newspaper articles with more info... \nhttp://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article357032.ece \nhttp://www.dailypioneer.com/foray1.asp?main_variable=SUNDAYPIONEER%2FGLOBE&file_name=globe1.txt&counter_img=1
747462
Most black people do not use that word. You hear a few people say that & you group everyone in the category. Calling each other the "N" word is like when female friends call each other the "B" word. It's not a problem until someone outside of their circle tries to do it. Don't try to understand it. Just don't do it. The "N" is not offensive because of the actual word. It was because the person using that word could beat you, scream at you, disrespect you & accuse you of stuff you didn't do. And then they would call you that name while doing it. That's why when a black person hears that words, it triggers a defense mechanism.
934221
The two words are not related. The noun nag, as some have answered, relates to a horse and possibly comes from the Dutch old horse," c.1400, nagge "small riding horse," of unknown origin, perhaps related to Du. negge, neg (but these are more recent than the Eng. word). \n The verb nag means to annoy by scolding," 1828, originally a dialectal word, probably ultimately from a Scandinavian source (cf. O.N. gnaga "to complain," lit. "to bite, gnaw," dial. Swed. and Norw. nagga "to gnaw") related to Old English  gnagan "to gnaw
103028
Some people say that the use of the n-word by some African-Americans is cullturally a way of removing the power from the word. When black people use it they become desensitized to it and it has less power when a white person uses it. I don't quite believe this is true because in high school I saw several white guys get the s*** beat out of them for using it. \nSo maybe it is a way that some African Americans have taken a small piece of power from whites. Black people can use the n-word but it is off-limits for whites. As society has continued to keep African Americans oppressed, this could be the one way they have to assert some power over whites by taking a word they used to promote hate and essentially banning the use of it by whites in mixed company.\nOne other argument could be that because of systematic racisim still present in society, some black people use the word as a form of self deprication, which illustrates the shame some African Americans have about being black. \nThe main problem with your question is you are generalizing an entire group of people. Not all black people use the n-word, and feel its casual use in society is harming. Some just simply see it as a word, while others could fall into one of the groups mentioned above. The real answer is there is no one answer. Different people use it or don't use it for reasons only they themselves know.
135659
What an obtuse question!\n\nSimply because that word was used by certain people precisely <as> a term of offense to describe 'some other people'.\n\nYour question would have much more validity if it were "why did white people decide to use that word as a term of offense in the first place?"\n\nYes we know that black people use the word within their own community, just as gay people use the word 'queer'. But that doesn't change the fact that the word was first given currency as a deliberate insult.
1035913
Pronounced "NE-OL".  This is from the code-talkers dictionary used in WWII.
71527
My black friend told me it was okay for his white friends to say nig-ga, but not okay to say the other. It was just his view. I think one is a more affectionate term, an attempt to take the sting off the origonal racist slang. Wether intentional, or accidental, it seems to have been effective. The more it's used and the more creative dirrivitives that arise, the less we are reminded of our divided past. Keeping the term taboo only allows it to keep it's stinging power. I don't prefer the black culture at all, but I couldn't imagine america without it. Keep it loose and friendly, we can get along famously forever.
667330
It's bull. It comes from English's proto-Germanic root language, and many Northern European languages have similar words.
43675
there is a lot of history behind the n-word. It was originally used to hurt black people, and to make them feel inferior however, some black people have taken it and flipped the meaning in an effort to give it a pos. connotation, like how women sometimes refer to each other as hoes, b*****s, etc. but if you'd like more info on the topic read "N*i*g*g*e*r: the strange career of a troublesome word" by Randall Kennedy.
116773
no. "ain't" is not a real word in the English vocabulary. But it is still used. Different places make up and use new words, but they are not proper English.