'cheapskate' originates from American English, specifically a compound of 'cheap' and slang 'skate' (meaning 'a mean or contemptible person'), possibly from Northern English dialect 'skate' ultimately related to Old Norse 'skaði' meaning 'harm, damage'.

'Skate' meaning 'a mean person' was attested in American English by the early 19th century; in the late 19th century it combined with 'cheap' to form 'cheapskate,' which became the modern English noun.

Initially, it meant 'a stingy person who hates spending money,' and this sense has remained essentially the same in modern usage.