What does cheap skate

Problems viewing this page? Cookies and privacy Other words sites Affixes dictionary. The English language is forever changing.

New words appear; old ones fall out of use or alter their meanings. World Wide Words tries to record at least a part of this shifting wordscape by featuring new words, word histories, words in the news, and the curiosities of native English speech. Search World Wide Words. They are otherwise known as misers, pikers, scrooges, skinflints, tight-wads or penny-pinchers.

No one knows the precise source of the word 'cheapskate' but we do know that it originated in the USA in the late 19th century. A search through some early archives comes up with references to 'cheap skates' but these turn out to be simply adverts for inexpensive skating footwear, which clearly isn't the source of the word.

It does coincide with the early spelling of 'cheapskate' though, which was originally as two words, that is 'cheap skate'. Of course, we aren't going to get far into investigating 'cheapskate' without knowing what a 'skate' is. Love words? Need even more definitions? Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?

The awkward case of 'his or her'. Take the quiz. Our Favorite New Words How many do you know? Spell It Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?