Other forms: misers
A miser is somebody who hoards money and will not spend it. An old miser, live like a miser, the miser's hoard.
The word carries contempt for hoarding rather than for saving, and the miser of stories is always miserable — which is the same Latin word, since miser means wretched. Scrooge is the pattern everybody has in mind.
1nounmiserSomebody who hoards money and will not spend it.
“The old miser lived on bread and water, although he had a fortune under his bed.”
miser is a person.
Latin miser means wretched or unhappy. Miserable is the same word, which is the point of the character.
Latin
miser — wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, miserable, sick, ill, bad, worthless, etc.
Middle English
misser
English, today
miser
From Middle English misser, from Latin miser (“wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, miserable, sick, ill, bad, worthless, etc.”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA