pygmy
noun/ˈpɪɡmi/
/ˈpɪɡmi/
(also pigmy)
(plural pygmies, pigmies)
- Pygmya member of a group of people who are very short, especially a member of a people living in central Africa. This word is sometimes now considered offensive.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- (disapproving) a very small person or thing or one that is weak in some way
- He regarded them as intellectual pygmies.
Word Originlate Middle English (originally in the plural, denoting a mythological race of small people): via Latin from Greek pugmaios ‘dwarf’, from pugmē ‘the length measured from elbow to knuckles’.
Check pronunciation:
pygmy