Meanings
- A male given name from Latin, of mostly British usage.
It might come as some small comfort to Nigel Farage to discover that it’s not just those on his side of the Brexit debate who have fallen victim to potential ‘debanking’.
2023 July 28, Steerpike, “Has Gina Miller also fallen victim to ‘debanking’?”, in The Spectator, archived from the original on 28 Jul 20231 more example
'I thought, sir,' answered Nigel, with as much haughtiness as was consistent with the cool distance he desired to preserve, 'I thought I had told you, my name was Nigel Grahame.' His eminence of Whitefriars on this burst into a loud, chuckling, impudent laugh, repeating the word, till his voice was almost inarticulate, - 'Niggle Green - Niggle Green - Niggle Green! why, my lord, you would be queered in the drinking of a penny pot of Malmsey, if you cry before you are touched.'
1822, Walter Scott, chapter XXIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel - A small mining town in Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province, South Africa.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of dweeb (“boring or socially inept person”).
Origin
- Old NorseNjáll
- Old IrishNíall
- NormanNéel
- LatinNigellus
- EnglishNigel
English form of Latin Nigellus, from nigellus (“slightly black”), diminutive of niger (“black”), used in the Middle Ages to Latinize Norman Néel and Old Irish Níall, from which the former is derived via Old Norse Njáll. Compare Neil.
More words from Latin, Norman, Old Irish
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Nigel
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
Nigel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nigel
“Nigel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nigel. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Nigel,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nigel.
Source: Nigel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.