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 /

noun

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

pygmy

²

/ 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

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

To make matters worse, the pygmy goat did not even belong to Thompson; it had been stolen from a 4-year-old boy.

From The Daily Beast

Pygmy hippos are a distinct sub-species to their larger cousins the common hippopotamus.

From The Daily Beast

With only a half million natives (and another half million foreign workers) Bahrain is a pygmy in Arab politics.

From The Daily Beast

Reading Pygmy is like trying to do a crossword puzzle while riding a horse underwater.

From The Daily Beast

“So corrupt, evil, vile American liberal culture, such United States pretension,” as Pygmy reports.

From The Daily Beast

After entering the great primeval forest Mr. Lloyd went west for five days without the sight of a Pygmy.

From Project Gutenberg

He journeyed for three weeks in the Pygmy forest and had excellent opportunities for examining its inhabitants.

From Project Gutenberg

They are lacking, like the Pygmy races in general, in the art of chipping stone, one of the earliest arts acquired by man.

From Project Gutenberg

A large clearing may have eight to twelve of these Pygmy camps around it, with perhaps two thousand inmates.

From Project Gutenberg

He felt very much of a pygmy and very helpless as he scrambled about over the icy decks.

From Project Gutenberg