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Well, the title pretty much says it all.

A Sparmeister (noun), briefly speaking, is

a person who is concerned about his finances and tries to avoid spending money whenever possible.

a person who always tries to get the best (lowest) price on things.

I would consider this word neutral, rather than offensive or complimentary.

The context for which I need this word is gonna be a sentence similar to this:

Looks like you are quite the "Sparmeister", you only spent --insert low amount of money here--.

Is there any better wording for "Sparmeister"?

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  • 4
    In German, does this word have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation? How would you feel if someone called you a sparmeister?
    – Dan Bron
    Dec 1, 2014 at 22:58
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    Neutral I would say. It is definitely not an offensive word, but also not a compliment or anything like that.
    – Philipp Jahoda
    Dec 1, 2014 at 23:02
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    A "savings Champion" is what you'll get if you try Google Translator.
    – Centaurus
    Dec 1, 2014 at 23:11
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    Where is that word used in German at all? I've never heard it ... (Mostly in ads, a google search suggests)
    – Hagen von Eitzen
    Dec 2, 2014 at 18:54
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about “Translation and non-English languages”.
    – Bradd Szonye
    Dec 3, 2014 at 0:53

7 Answers 7

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33

If you're looking for a neutral word which doesn't carry value judgements, try "frugal".

If you want a word with fairly positive connotations, try "economical" or thrifty (noun: saver; note: spendthrift is a noun, but it has the opposite meaning to thrifty).

If you want a word with negative connotations, try "cheap" (nouns: skinflint, miser, cheapo).

There are plenty of other synonyms to choose from in the thesaurus, if you start with one of these words.

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    Thank you very much. I think in my case, saver works best.
    – Philipp Jahoda
    Dec 1, 2014 at 23:30
  • Scrooge ; not sure if it's scrounge or scrouge, so scrounger something...
    – user98955
    Dec 1, 2014 at 23:41
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    @ErikKowal: no, the nouns are way clunkier and less used than the adjectival equivalents, for this one. 'frugal' or 'economical' are like 100x more common than 'scrooge' or 'tightwad'.
    – smci
    Dec 2, 2014 at 6:51
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    @smci - Without any evidence from you (convincing or otherwise) to back up that assertion, I class that as your opinion, not fact.
    – Erik Kowal
    Dec 2, 2014 at 6:56
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    @ErikKowal the assertion is backed up by the fact that while Germans use long concatenations-of-nouns-for-purpose-of-description, English language always likes enumerating descriptive verbs, adverbs and adjectives better.
    – Alexander
    Dec 2, 2014 at 13:04
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A person who is always on the lookout for special deals and offers, especially in retail shops but also in supermarkets, can be called a bargain hunter.

As more choices turned once-loyal shoppers into savvy bargain hunters, clothing manufacturers responded by shifting production overseas to cut costs.

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  • Oh, nice one! Wish I'd thought of it.
    – Dan Bron
    Dec 2, 2014 at 14:11
  • However, a bargain hunter will often buy things because they are cheap, even if they are not needed. The Sparmeister wouldn't.
    – gnasher729
    Aug 29, 2015 at 17:18
  • @gnasher729 but the OP defines it as a person who always tries to get the best (lowest) price on things. Bargain hunter fits, it's less derogatory than cheap while frugal suggests a person who will do without rather than spend money on non-essential things. To be called a bargain hunter is also quite a compliment. AND it's a noun!
    – Mari-Lou A
    Aug 29, 2015 at 18:28
8

I think the phrase "penny pincher" would also work here. In the usage I've observed it is more neutral than some of the other suggestions.

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  • I'm not sure why my edits aren't being approved, since they improve my answer.
    – L0j1k
    Dec 3, 2014 at 21:41
7

Miser, scrooge, careful with money, thrifty, etc.

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  • The problem is that miser and scrooge have negative connotations, which is something that the OP was trying to avoid.
    – Shokhet
    Dec 3, 2014 at 2:44
2

For the sake of interest, some options that have negative connotations: parsimonious, stingy, tight-fisted. The latter two are somewhat colloquial (and possibly British).

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  • (FYI stingy is commonly used in the USA, but tight-fisted is more rare, and parsimonious is even more rare and I think many here wouldn't know what you were saying.)
    – Dronz
    Dec 2, 2014 at 16:45
  • @Dronz: Parsimonious is rare over here as well – can't recall the last time I heard it in speech! And likewise, stingy is probably the most common in British English.
    – Will Vousden
    Dec 2, 2014 at 16:49
  • How about "tightwad"? I think that's (the later form, circa 1900) used more than tight-fisted here.
    – Dronz
    Dec 2, 2014 at 16:55
  • @Dronz I haven't heard that one before... But maybe I don't hang out with the right people :)
    – Will Vousden
    Dec 2, 2014 at 17:10
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I have not seen anyone recommend the word, cheapskate, yet. I believe this is the best equivalent word, although it is also often applied to someone who tries to get out of paying their fair share. It tends to be more negative, but the degree mostly depends on tone. Penny-pincher is another good word, although this one leans positively.

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    Penny pincher seems like a good match, but to my ears "cheapskate" has a clear negative connotation unless used jokingly. Maybe there's some regional variation? To me it says that someone is miserly in a shortsighted way -- by purchasing shoddy and inferior things or by avoiding necessary expenditures, especially to the detriment of others (e.g. family members).
    – Semicolon
    Dec 3, 2014 at 6:19
1

"Sparen" means "to save, and "Meister means "master," so the translation I would use is Super-saver.

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