cicatero

Spanish

FWOTD – 10 January 2025

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish cegatero (“reseller”), from Arabic سَقَّاط (saqqāṭ, “seller of trinkets”) +‎ -ero. Related to Arabic سَقَط (saqaṭ, “worthless”). Coromines and Pascual explain the development ceg- > cic- as influence from cica (“money bag”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Spain) /θikaˈteɾo/ [θi.kaˈt̪e.ɾo]
IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /sikaˈteɾo/ [si.kaˈt̪e.ɾo]
Rhymes: -eɾo
Syllabification: ci‧ca‧te‧ro

Adjective

cicatero (feminine cicatera, masculine plural cicateros, feminine plural cicateras)

miserly, mean, stingy
Synonyms: ruin, roñoso, avaro, agarrado
- 2015 July 26, “Fracaso de Domecq y entrega de Fernando Rey en su alternativa”, in El País‎^[1]:
  Otra vez se puso en evidencia el trato injusto que se dedica a los toreros acartelados con las corridas duras: además de bailar con la más recelosa -que no fea-, no disfrutan de la misma generosidad que se le reserva a las figuras, ni por parte del público, algo cicatero, ni de la presidencia.
  Once again the unjust treatment of carteled bullfighters in difficult bullfights became evident: besides having to deal with the most suspicious, if not ugly, activity, they do not receive the same generosity [more prominent] figures receive, neither from the somewhat miserly audience, nor from the show presidency.
punctilious, concerned with worthless small things or details
Synonym: puntilloso

Derived terms

cicatería

Noun

cicatero m (plural cicateros, feminine cicatera, feminine plural cicateras)

miser
Synonym: avaro

“cicatero”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “cicatero”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 63