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Nitwit, a colloquial noun for a stupid person, may refer to: an idiot; Nittany Nation, formerly known "Nittwits", a student organization; Dr. Nitwhite, a scientist in Between the Lions commonly called "Dr. Nitwit", much to his chagrin; Sid Millward and His Nitwits, a British parody band between the 1930s and 1970s
Nigga (/ ˈ n ɪ ɡ ə /), also known as "the N-word" is a colloquial term in African-American Vernacular English that is considered vulgar in many contexts. It began as a dialect form of the word nigger , an ethnic slur against black people .
In the English language, the term negro (or sometimes negress for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black African heritage. The term negro means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from Latin niger), where English took it from. [1]
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary describes the term as "perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English". [3] The Oxford English Dictionary writes that "this word is one of the most controversial in English, and is liable to be considered offensive or taboo in almost all contexts (even when used as a self-description)". [2]
The word history comes from the Ancient Greek term ἵστωρ (histōr), meaning ' learned, wise man '. It gave rise to the Ancient Greek word ἱστορία (historiā), which had a wide meaning associated with inquiry in general and giving testimony. The term was later adopted into Classical Latin as historia.
The form or meaning of the word might show variations between dialects, which may yield clues about its earlier history. The comparative method. By a systematic comparison of related languages, etymologists may often be able to detect which words derive from their common ancestor language and which were instead later borrowed from another language.
The Online Etymology Dictionary or Etymonline, sometimes abbreviated as OED (not to be confused with the Oxford English Dictionary, which the site often cites), is a free online dictionary that describes the origins of English words, written and compiled by Douglas R. Harper.
As its history indicates, the popular use of the word racism is relatively recent. The word came into widespread usage in the Western world in the 1930s, when it was used to describe the social and political ideology of Nazism , which treated "race" as a naturally given political unit. [ 22 ]