Nickel-metal hydride secondary cell and negative electrode therefor

A nickel-metal hydride secondary cell (2) holds therein an electrode group (22) and an alkaline electrolyte solution containing NaOH as a main constituent of its solute. The electrode group has a positive electrode (24) and a negative electrode (26) lapped one over the other with a separator (28) therebetween. The negative electrode (26) contains a hydrogen absorbing alloy having a composition represented by the general formula: (RET)MgNiAl(where RE is at least one element selected from among Y, Sc and rare-earth elements, T is at least one element selected from among Zr, V and Ca, and subscripts x, y, z and a are values respectively satisfying 0 ≤ x, 0.05 ≤ y ≤ 0.35, 2.8 ≤ z ≤ 3.9, and 0.10 ≤ a ≤ 0.25), the hydrogen absorbing alloy has a crystal structure in which an ABsubunit and an ABsubunit are superimposed one upon the other, and Cr is substituted for part of the Ni.