niddering

Meaning

Noun

Synonym of nithing (“a coward, a dastard; a wretch”)

Adj

Synonym of nithing (“cowardly, dastardly; notoriously evil or wicked; infamous”)

Synonyms

caitiff

chicken-hearted

chicken-livered

chickenshit

poltroon

unmanly

retromingent

poltroonish

chicken-shit

courageless

fraidy

cowardy

recrayed

Translations

τιποτένιος

feig

memmenhaft

hasenherzig

froussard

couard

lâchement

d’une manière lâche

vigliacco

vigliaccamente

codarde

lafhartig

covarde

covardemente

Hyphenated as

nid‧der‧ing

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈnɪdəɹɪŋ/

Etymology

Cognate with Middle English: niðing

In summary

A variant of nithing, resulting from the letter eth (ð) in Early Middle English niðing in the writings of the English historian William of Malmesbury (c. 1095 – c.  1143) being mistaken for a d followed by a mark of suspension representing a letter that had been omitted as an abbreviation. This led to niðing being wrongly spelled as nidering in early printed versions of his works. The word was later popularized by the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).