adj
Meaning 1
Relating or belonging to the Pygmy people.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
pygmy
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈpɪɡmi/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: P IH1 G M IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Unusually short or small for its kind, especially in the names of animals and plants.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A member of various legendary races of dwarfs, or supernatural peoples of diminutive stature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: arts, folklore, history, human-sciences, literature, media, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, publishing, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A member of one of various tribal peoples of the Congo Basin in equatorial Africa, notable for their very short stature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: capitalized, dated, often, proscribed
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Also applied to various other peoples of short stature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: capitalized, dated, often, proscribed
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
Any dwarfish person or thing; a disparaging term for a small person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, figuratively, offensive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
An insignificant person, at least in some respect.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, figuratively, offensive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
any member of various peoples having an average height of less than five feet
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Pigmy
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: small person
noun
Meaning 9
an unusually small individual
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pigmy
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: small person
History
Etymology
From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a legendary race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”). In Ancient Greek, first mentioned by Homer; only applied to actual human races in the 19th century.
Across languages
Translations
60 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: пигме́й (pigméj) — a member of various African peoples
- Catalan: pigmeu — a member of various African peoples
- Chinese Mandarin: 侏儒 (zhūrú) — a member of various African peoples
- Chinese Mandarin: 矮人 (ǎirén) — a member of various African peoples
- Chinese Mandarin: 俾格米 (bǐgémǐ) — a member of various African peoples
- Czech: Pygmej — a member of various African peoples
- Danish: pygmæ — a member of various African peoples
- Dutch: pygmee — a member of various African peoples
- Faroese: pygmeur — a member of various African peoples
- Finnish: pygmi — a member of various African peoples
- French: pygmée — a member of various African peoples
- German: Pygmäe — a member of various African peoples
- Greek: πυγμαίος (pygmaíos) — a member of various African peoples
- Ancient Greek: πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos) — a member of various African peoples
- Hungarian: pigmeus — a member of various African peoples
- Irish: pigmí — a member of various African peoples
- Japanese: ピグミー (pigumī) — a member of various African peoples
- Korean: 난쟁이 (nanjaeng'i) — a member of various African peoples
- Norwegian: pygmé — a member of various African peoples
- Norwegian: pygme — a member of various African peoples
- Polish: Pigmej — a member of various African peoples
- Portuguese: pigmeu — a member of various African peoples
- Romanian: pigmeu — a member of various African peoples
- Russian: пигме́й (pigméj) — a member of various African peoples
- Spanish: pigmeo — a member of various African peoples
- Swedish: pygmé — a member of various African peoples
- Tagalog: himandak — a member of various African peoples
- Ukrainian: пігме́й (pihméj) — a member of various African peoples
- Ukrainian: пігме́йка (pihméjka) — a member of various African peoples
- Volapük: pügmen — a member of various African peoples
- Volapük: hipügmen — a member of various African peoples
- Volapük: jipügmen — a member of various African peoples
- Bulgarian: джудже (džudže) — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Dutch: pygmee — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Finnish: kääpiö — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Ancient Greek: πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos) — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Japanese: 小人族 (kobitozoku) — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Portuguese: pigmeu — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Romanian: pigmeu — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Romanian: pitic — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Russian: пигме́й (pigméj) — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Swedish: pygmé — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Tagalog: himandak — a member of a mythological race of dwarfs
- Azerbaijani: cırtdan — any dwarfish person
- Bulgarian: джудже (džudže) — any dwarfish person
- Chinese Mandarin: 侏儒 (zhūrú) — any dwarfish person
- Chinese Mandarin: 矮人 (ǎirén) — any dwarfish person
- Dutch: dwerg — any dwarfish person
- Dutch: pygmee — any dwarfish person
- Hindi: वामन (vāman) — any dwarfish person
- Hindi: बालिश्त (bāliśt) — any dwarfish person
- Japanese: 小人 (kobito) — any dwarfish person
- Portuguese: pigmeu — any dwarfish person
- Romanian: pitic — any dwarfish person
- Russian: ка́рлик (kárlik) — any dwarfish person
- Tagalog: himandak — any dwarfish person
- Dutch: dwerg — an insignificant person
- Dutch: pygmee — an insignificant person
- Japanese: 無能 (munō) — an insignificant person
- Portuguese: pigmeu — an insignificant person
Real reading context