Nigâr was born in Istanbul to Macar Osman Pasha, an Ottoman nobleman of Hungarian origin.

By this marriage she had a son, Feridun Bey, who became a French teacher at Robert College and a tutor of Şehzade Ahmed Nihad, a grandson of Sultan Murad V. Her early poetry is in the traditional divan style, but later she was influenced by Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem and others, and adopted a more modernist stance, influenced by the Western poetry of her time.

She was well versed in the cultures of East and West, and knew French, Greek, Arabic, and German.

Apart from her career as a poet, her life-style, outgoing personality and choice of clothing had a wide influence on society and the perspective of women at the time.

[2] In 1998, Şairler Sofası Park was inaugurated, she is featured in a sculpture by Gürdal Duyar along with 6 other famous poets.