skinflint

American  

[skin-flint] / ˈskɪnˌflɪnt /

noun

1. a mean, stingy person; miser.

   Synonyms:

   Scrooge, pinchpenny, hoarder

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skinflint British  

/ ˈskɪnˌflɪnt /

noun

1. an ungenerous or niggardly person; miser

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Other Word Forms

• skinflintily adverb
• skinflintiness noun
• skinflinty adjective

Etymology

Origin of skinflint

First recorded in 1690–1700; skin + flint

Explanation

A skinflint is someone who only shops at bargain stores, never orders dessert, and in general hates spending money. It's not a nice word, so if you're trying to compliment someone, better to call them "thrifty" or "frugal." A flint is a kind of rock that was used in the olden days to start a fire. If you didn't want to buy a new flint, you'd use an old one over and over again, "skinning" it — that is, wearing it down until it's as thin as skin. So someone who did that would be called a skinflint. It's another way of saying that someone will try to squeeze a penny out of anything.

Example Sentences

After a relationship marked by Turner being neat freak and a skinflint, they broke up after he shamed her for gaining 10 pounds.

From Salon • Dec. 2, 2023

To his admirers, Mr. O’Rahilly was a renegade visionary and a skinflint con man who sometimes liked to find creative ways to leave posh restaurants without paying for his meals.

From Washington Post • Apr. 24, 2020

A PR man flirts with a newswoman and his client’s daughter while changing a skinflint tycoon’s image.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2019

“That may be, but that’s not setting the bar too high. Jerry has cultivated an image of himself as a skinflint, which has caused most conservatives to smart and laugh.”

From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2018

Especially when my father said that Mr. Big Bucks Ballard was the skinflint of skinflints, and there probably wouldn’t be much to eat.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt