Niger

Commonly linked by folk etymology to Latin niger (“black”), which likely influenced the modern spelling.

Some sources give the term to Tuareg roots, deriving it from a claimed gher n-gheren or egereou n-igereouen (“river of rivers”).^[1][2] Compare Tarifit iɣzar-n-iɣezran.

Older sources derive Niger, via a series of mistranslations and geographic misplacements by Greek, Roman and Arab geographers, from Ptolemy's descriptions of the wadi Gir (in modern Algeria) and the "Lower Gir" (or "Ni-Gir") to the south.^[3]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/ or, for the country, also /niːˈʒɛə(ɹ)/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: nīʹjər, IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.d͡ʒɚ/ or, for the country, also enPR: nēzhârʹ, /niːˈʒɛɚ/

  The second pronunciations of the country's name follow how it is pronounced in French, the official language of Niger.^[4][5]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪd͡ʒə(ɹ), -ɛə(ɹ)

Niger or the Niger

2. A country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria. Official name: Republic of the Niger.
   • 2023 March 20, Kylie Atwood, “American citizen held hostage for 6 years in West Africa has been freed”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     An American aid worker who was kidnapped in Niger more than six years ago and held hostage by terrorists has been released, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted on Monday.

4. A major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria.
   • 2023, Stephen Buoro, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa, Bloomsbury Circus, page 290:

     From here we can see the River Niger in the distance running across town, a long gleaming diamond in the horizon.

5. A state of Nigeria in the North Central geopolitical zone. Capital and largest city: Minna.
   • 2024 August 1, Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, “Violence erupts as Nigerians protest hunger across the nation”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Gunshots rang out in the capital Abuja and also in the neighboring Niger state as police lobbed tear gas to disperse defiant protesters. In Niger, at least six people are now feared dead, local media reported.

• Subsahara

• Nigersaurus

• → Japanese: ナイジャ (Naija)

• Appendix:Countries of the world

• Niger on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• re-nig, Reign, Negri, reign, ringe, renig, Grine, Reing, Grein, nigre

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria; capital: Niamey)

• Nigerees
• Nigers
• Nigeryn

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• IPA^(key): [ˈnɪɡɛr]

Niger m inan (relational adjective nigerský, demonym Nigeřan)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• “Niger”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “Niger”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “Niger”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Probably borrowed from French Niger.

• IPA^(key): /ˈni.ɣər/, /ˈni.ɣɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ni‧ger

Niger n

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• Nigerees

From French Niger.

• IPA^(key): /ˈniɡer/, [ˈniɡe̞r]
• Rhymes: -iɡer
• Syllabification^(key): Ni‧ger
• Hyphenation^(key): Ni‧ger

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• nigeriläinen

• IPA^(key): /ni.ʒɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Niger m

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• Nigérien (“Nigerien”), Nigérienne
• nigérien

• Japanese: ニジェール (Nijēru)

• Nigérian (“Nigerian, resident or native of Nigeria”), Nigériane
• nigérian

• IPA^(key): [ˈniːɡɐ]

• Audio:

  (file)

der Niger m (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Niger or des Nigers) or
Niger n (proper noun, genitive Nigers or (optionally with an article) Niger)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

   Synonyms: Republik Niger, (obsolete) Nigerien n

• Nigrer
• nigrisch

der Niger m (proper noun, strong, usually definite, definite genitive des Niger or des Nigers)

1. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• Nigeria

• Nigerianer (“Nigerian, person from Nigeria”)
• nigerianisch

• IPA^(key): [ˈniɡɛr], [ˈniʒɛr]
• Hyphenation: Ni‧ger
• Rhymes: -ɛr

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria; official name: Nigeri Köztársaság)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• nigeri

• IPA^(key): /ˈni.d͡ʒer/
• Rhymes: -idʒer
• Hyphenation: Nì‧ger

Niger m

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• nigerino

• negri, regni

From niger (“black, dark”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnɪ.ɡɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈniː.d͡ʒer]

Niger m (genitive Nigrī); second declension

1. A Roman agnomen, or "nickname"
   • (Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, Aquilius Niger)[3]

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Niger m sg (genitive Nigris); third declension

1. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)
   • 1534, Joachim Vadianus, Epitome trium terrae partium Asiae, Africae et Europae compendiariam...:

     Efficit autem hoc suo flexu, ut etiam ultra Athlantem Africa ad usque Nigrim fluuium excurrat, Plinio & Ptolemaeo.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Third-declension noun, singular only.

• “Niger”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

• “Niger”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Niger”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• nigerer
• nigersk

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• nigerar
• nigersk

• IPA^(key): /ˈɲi.ɡɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɡɛr
• Syllabification: Ni‧ger

Niger m inan (related adjective nigerski)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• Niger in Polish dictionaries at PWN

• IPA^(key): /nîɡer/
• Hyphenation: Ni‧ger

Nȉger m inan (Cyrillic spelling Ни̏гер)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

• IPA^(key): /nìːɡɛr/

Níger m inan

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)
2. Niger (a major river in West Africa that flows into the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria)

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nominative	Níger
genitive	Nígera
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Níger
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Nígera
dative (dajȃlnik)	Nígeru
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Níger
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Nígeru
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Nígerom

• Nígrc / Nígrka
• nígrski

• “Niger”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “Niger”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

Niger

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• IPA^(key): /niːɡɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

Niger n (genitive Nigers)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• nigerer
• nigerier
• nigerisk
• nigeriska

• Niger in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• Utrikes namnbok (12th ed., 2024)
• Svensk MeSH

• Inger, inger, regin, ringe

Niger f (not mutable)

1. Niger (a country in West Africa, situated to the north of Nigeria)

• Griffiths, Bruce, Glyn Jones, Dafydd (1995) Geiriadur yr Academi: The Welsh Academy English–Welsh Dictionary‎^[4], Cardiff: University of Wales Press, →ISBN