Pygmy

or Pig·my

[ pig-mee ]

noun

, plural Pyg·mies.

1. Anthropology.
   1. a member of a small-statured people native to equatorial Africa.
   2. a Negrito of southeastern Asia, or of the Andaman or Philippine islands.
2. pygmy, Disparaging and Offensive. a small or dwarfish person.
3. pygmy, anything very small of its kind.
4. pygmy, a person who is of small importance, or who has some quality, attribute, etc., in very small measure.
5. Classical Mythology. (in the Iliad ) one of a race of dwarfs who fought battles with cranes, who preyed on them and destroyed their fields.

adjective

1. Often pygmy. of or relating to the Pygmies.
2. pygmy, of very small size, capacity, power, etc.

pygmy

¹

/ ˈpɪɡmɪ; pɪɡˈmiːən /

noun

1. an abnormally undersized person
2. something that is a very small example of its type
3. a person of little importance or significance
4. modifier of very small stature or size

Pygmy

²

/ ˈpɪɡmɪ /

noun

1. a member of one of the dwarf peoples of Equatorial Africa, noted for their hunting and forest culture

Pygmy

1. A member of any ethnic group in which the average height of the adult male is less than four feet, eleven inches. There are Pygmy tribes in dense rain-forest areas of central Africa , southern India , Malaysia , and the Philippines . The most widely studied Pygmies are the Mbuti of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo , who pursue a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence ( see nomadism and hunting and gathering societies ), but have established complex interdependent relationships with their non-Pygmy farming neighbors.

Derived Forms

• pygmaean, adjective

Other Words From

• pygmoid adjective
• pygmy·ish adjective
• pygmy·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pygmy¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pigmēis, plural of pigmē, from Latin Pygmaeus, from Greek pygmaîos “dwarfish” (adjective), Pygmy (noun), equivalent to pyg(mḗ) ) “distance from elbow to knuckles” + -aios adjective suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pygmy¹

C14 pigmeis the Pygmies, from Latin Pygmaeus a Pygmy, from Greek pugmaios undersized, from pugmē fist

Example Sentences

Pygmy hippos, otherwise known as dwarf hippos, are native to West Africa and experts believe there are only about 2,500 left in the wild worldwide.

From BBC

Pygmy lorises were already listed as endangered, and the species split reveals a greater threat to each individual population.

From Scientific American

Pygmy possums would be unlikely to share their box with the spiders; in 2019, a huntsman, which can be six inches from leg to leg, reportedly ate a pygmy possum in Tasmania.

From New York Times

The music of the Central African Pygmy people, he points out, “can involve eighteen separate interlocking parts.”

From Washington Post

That makes wistful pessimism about the human condition seem like common sense: Yes, living in a truly egalitarian society might be possible if you’re a Pygmy or a Kalahari Bushman.

From New York Times