In the United States, there have been several controversies involving the misunderstanding of the word niggardly, an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", because of its phonetic similarity to nigger, an ethnic slur used against black people. Although the two words are etymologically unrelated, niggardly is nonetheless often replaced with a synonym. People have sometimes faced backlash for using the word.
Niggardly, arising in the Middle Ages, long predates nigger, which arose in the 18th century.[1]