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🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Pennäler

Native Script:Knickerbocker

Pronunciation / Transliteration: /ˈpɛn.ˌleːɐ̯/

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Skinflint/ˈskɪn.flɪnt/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #14500 frequency
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🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Sein Onkel ist ein echter Knickerbocker, wenn es um Geld geht."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

1 sense
As noun
  1. 1

    A person who is unwilling to spend money; a very miserly or niggardly person.

    "He is such a skinflint that he refused to tip the waiter even though the service was exceptional."
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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

First recorded in the late 16th century, the term combines 'skin' (in the figurative sense of stripping or flaying the outer layer) and 'flint' (a very hard stone), implying someone so mean and miserly they would literally try to skin a flint stone to get something off it. It reflects an old folk metaphor for extreme stinginess.

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