Etymology tree
English wig
Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.
Proto-Italic *-āzios
Latin -āriusnom.
Latin -āriusbor.
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -ere
English -er
English wigger
From wig + -er.
Meanings
A maker of wigs.
I flounder about for my diplomacy and give up; it is simply one man against four wiggers, that much is clear, and they are going to fight me down to the wire. "This girl does not need a wig at all," I am forced to say yet once more. 1984, Arthur Miller, Salesman in Beijing, page 184:
Blend of white + nigger. First use appears c. 1988. See cite below.
Meanings
(derogatory, ethnic, slur) A white person, typically young and male, considered to be overly infatuated with African-American or (UK) Afro-Caribbean culture, a cultural appropriator.
I have often heard the word "wigger" used to describe a white person who supposedly acts and talks "black," while the same type of taunting is put upon a black person who supposedly acts "white." 1988 April 20, “How race-conscious are high school students today?”, in The Washington Post, number ?, Washington, D.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, column ?:
To some extent wiggers are simply the most visible examples of a very American brand of teenage rebellion. 1999, Leonard Steinhorn et al., By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race, page 178:
And I just do not got the patience
To deal with these cocky Caucasians
Who think I'm some wigger who just tries to be black... 2000, Eminem, The Way I Am:
(broadly, qualifier:imprecise) A nonblack person of any race considered to be inauthentically appropriating black culture and behavior.
(dated, qualifier:African-American Vernacular, uncommon) A white person considered to be sincerely appreciative of black culture, as opposed to poseurs and wannabes.
The Oprah people were on the phone with my mom. Someone had given them my name as an expert on wiggers. You know, Wiggers. White kids who identify themselves with hip-hop. I was an expert on that. 1994 July 7, William Upski Wimsatt, “Wigger”, in Chicago Reader: