miser
UK[ˈmaɪzə]US[ˈmaɪzər]
n
A person who hoards wealth and spends as little money as possible.
Etymology
The word 'miser' entered English in the mid-16th century directly from Latin, where 'miser' meant "wretched, unhappy, pitiable." This semantic shift from "wretched" to "stingy hoarder" is a fascinating example of pejoration. The logic connects profound unhappiness to avarice, suggesting that a person who lives in a state of self-imposed deprivation for the sake of money is truly wretched or pitiable. The word has no clear Proto-Indo-European root but solidified in Latin to describe a state of misery, which English then specialized to its current, more contemptuous meaning.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from Latin. It cannot be meaningfully segmented into smaller, independent morphemes using its modern English spelling.
Examples
The old miser refused to turn on the heating even in the depths of winter.
In the story, the town's miser lived in a crumbling mansion filled with hidden gold.
He was labeled a miser by his colleagues for never contributing to office collections.