picayune

¹ American  

[pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh-] / ˌpɪk iˈyun, ˌpɪk ə- /

adjective

Informal.

1. of little value or account; small; trifling.

   a picayune amount.

   Synonyms:

   trivial, paltry, nugatory, measly, insignificant, inconsequential

2. petty, carping, or prejudiced.

   I didn't want to seem picayune by criticizing.

   Synonyms:

   illiberal, small-minded, petty, narrow-minded, narrow

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noun

1. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.

2. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.

3. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.

Picayune ² American  

[pik-uh-yoon, pik-ee-] / ˌpɪk əˈyun, ˌpɪk i- /

noun

1. a town in SE Mississippi.

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picayune British  

/ ˌpɪkəˈjuːn /

adjective

1. of small value or importance

2. mean; petty

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noun

1. the half real, an old Spanish-American coin

2. any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece

Other Word Forms

• picayunishly adverb
• picayunishness noun

Etymology

Origin of picayune

First recorded in 1780–90; from Provençal picaioun “small copper coin” (compare French picaillons ), derivative of an unattested onomatopoetic base pikk- “beat,” here referring to the coining of coppers

Explanation

The adjective picayune refers to those things that are so small, trivial, and unimportant that they're not worth getting into. Why focus on the picayune details, when it's the larger ideas that are the real problem? There are several newspapers in America called the Picayune, because they see it as their job to comb through even the minor details of the story to get to the truth. Hear the word "picky" in picayune (though they're not related)? That's one way to remember it. A picky person is picayune. Airline disaster investigators spend their lives rummaging through the debris, knowing that it might be the most picayune detail that leads them to understand the cause of a crash.

Example Sentences

The next-largest categories, and we think the most concerning, encompass election administration and absentee voting – often challenging mechanical, even picayune matters.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2022

It is cluttered with the unruly archives of Mama Tina, Glasgow’s mother and co-missionary, and it can seem picayune.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 7, 2018

The concerns of the Chateau — and “The Château” — feel picayune by comparison.

From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2018

You need to burrow into the weeds on picayune issues so you know where opportunities for compromise lie.

From Slate • Apr. 26, 2017

I made the mistake of saying we were back to the picayune grind.

From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson