Other forms: niggers
Nigger is one of the most controversial, complicated words in English. It’s a hateful slur for an African-American, but many African-Americans use the word in a harmless way.
This word is so heavily loaded that an edition of the Mark Twain classic "Huckleberry Finn" censored nigger, replacing it with slave. For many people, this is a horribly offensive, racist word that should never be said by anyone. For others — in particular, younger African-Americans — this is a casual word that’s been reinvented and means something similar to man or buddy. Because it’s a dangerous word, saying the n-word when discussing nigger is common.