miser
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English
Etymology
From Late Latin miser (“wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, miserable, sick, ill, bad, worthless, etc.”).
Pronunciation
Noun
miser (plural misers)
- (derogatory) A person who hoards money rather than spending it; one who is cheap or extremely parsimonious.
- Synonym: see Thesaurus:miser
- Ebenezer Scrooge was a stereotypical miser: he spent nothing he could save, neither giving to charity nor enjoying his wealth.
- Mr. Krabs, Plankton, Dr. Eggman, Mr. Burns, Bugsy Siegel, Benny Goodman, Katharine Hepburn, and Howard Hughes were all famous examples of misers.
- A kind of earth auger, typically large-bored and often hand-operated.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
skinflint or scrooge
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
Further reading
- “miser”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “miser”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “miser”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Verb
miser
Conjugation
Conjugation of miser (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | miser | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | misant /mi.zɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | misé /mi.ze/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | mise /miz/ |
mises /miz/ |
mise /miz/ |
misons /mi.zɔ̃/ |
misez /mi.ze/ |
misent /miz/ |
| imperfect | misais /mi.zɛ/ |
misais /mi.zɛ/ |
misait /mi.zɛ/ |
misions /mi.zjɔ̃/ |
misiez /mi.zje/ |
misaient /mi.zɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | misai /mi.ze/ |
misas /mi.za/ |
misa /mi.za/ |
misâmes /mi.zam/ |
misâtes /mi.zat/ |
misèrent /mi.zɛʁ/ | |
| future | miserai /miz.ʁe/ |
miseras /miz.ʁa/ |
misera /miz.ʁa/ |
miserons /miz.ʁɔ̃/ |
miserez /miz.ʁe/ |
miseront /miz.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | miserais /miz.ʁɛ/ |
miserais /miz.ʁɛ/ |
miserait /miz.ʁɛ/ |
miserions /mi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
miseriez /mi.zə.ʁje/ |
miseraient /miz.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | mise /miz/ |
mises /miz/ |
mise /miz/ |
misions /mi.zjɔ̃/ |
misiez /mi.zje/ |
misent /miz/ |
| imperfect2 | misasse /mi.zas/ |
misasses /mi.zas/ |
misât /mi.za/ |
misassions /mi.za.sjɔ̃/ |
misassiez /mi.za.sje/ |
misassent /mi.zas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | mise /miz/ |
— | misons /mi.zɔ̃/ |
misez /mi.ze/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Romanian: miza
Further reading
- “miser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *misseros, of unknown origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mēwdʰ- (“to complain, be emotional about”), the same root of Latin maereō and Ancient Greek μῖσος (mîsos, “hatred”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
miser (feminine misera, neuter miserum, comparative miserior, superlative miserrimus, adverb miserē or miseriter); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)
- poor, wretched, pitiful
- ca. 54 BC, Catullus. Catullus 8
- Miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre
- Poor Catullus, stop with the nonsense
- Miser Catulle, dēsinās ineptīre
- 29 bc. Vergil. Aeneid, Book I
- nōn ignāra malī miserīs succurrere discō
- being not unacquainted with woe, I learn to help the unfortunate
- nōn ignāra malī miserīs succurrere discō
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.517:
- ‘dīque virīque locī, miserae succurrite mātrī!’
- “Gods and men of this place, hasten aid to a wretched mother!”
(The poetic voice is that of Ino (Greek mythology).)
- “Gods and men of this place, hasten aid to a wretched mother!”
- ‘dīque virīque locī, miserae succurrite mātrī!’
- ca. 54 BC, Catullus. Catullus 8
- miserable, unhappy
- worthless, null
- tragic, unfortunate
- sick
- tormenting
Declension
First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | miser | misera | miserum | miserī | miserae | misera | |
| Genitive | miserī | miserae | miserī | miserōrum | miserārum | miserōrum | |
| Dative | miserō | miserō | miserīs | ||||
| Accusative | miserum | miseram | miserum | miserōs | miserās | misera | |
| Ablative | miserō | miserā | miserō | miserīs | |||
| Vocative | miser | misera | miserum | miserī | miserae | misera | |
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- Eastern Romance:
- Italian: misero
- Old French: mezre
- → Catalan: míser
- → Portuguese: mísero
- → Spanish: mísero
- → Albanian: mjerë (disputed)
- → English: miser
- → Romanian: mizer
References
- “miser”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “miser”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- miser in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) to live a happy (unhappy) life: vitam beatam (miseram) degere
- (ambiguous) to live a happy (unhappy) life: vitam beatam (miseram) degere
- H. H. Mallinckrodt, Latijn Nederlands woordenboek (Aula n° 24), Utrecht-Antwerpen, Spectrum, 1959
- ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “mjerë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 270