*********.....Archaic or Racist?

Question

A friends grandmother used this word in conversation, my friend said it was racist, while I thought of it being more of an archaic term. Which more accurately describes it?

Answer 1

"*********" is a completely legitimate word, meaning "stingy" or "ungenerous", but it is not used very often any more because people sometimes mistake it for the racial slur (which is completely unrelated and is spelled and pronounced with a short "e", not a short "a".) It's not really archaic, just not commonly used so it's unfamiliar, especially to people who are not very well read.