pigmy

Noun

pygmy (plural pygmies)

1. A member of various legendary races of dwarfs, or supernatural peoples of diminutive stature.
   • Here are little Apes, much reſembling men in their countenance, which they vſed to preſerue with certaine Spices, hauing flayed off their skinnes, and left the haire growing in thoſe parts, where Nature cauſeth men to bee hairie, and ſell them to Merchants, to be carried ouer the World as the...1614, Samvel Pvrchas, Pvrchas his Pilgrimage, London: Henrie Fetherſtone, page 540
2. (capitalized, dated, often, proscribed) A member of one of various tribal peoples of the Congo Basin in equatorial Africa, notable for their very short stature.
   • The dark negroid Pygmies (Negrittos) are found in the Belgian Congo and in the equatorial area.1927, Donald A. Mackenzie, Footprints Of Early Man, London: The Gresham Publishing Company, page 176
3. (capitalized, dated, often, proscribed) Also applied to various other peoples of short stature.
   • As the Bushman folk are of low stature - the men from four feet six inches to four feet ten inches - they are classed as "Pygmies".1927, Donald A. Mackenzie, Footprints Of Early Man, London: The Gresham Publishing Company, page 176
4. (derogatory, figuratively, offensive) Any dwarfish person or thing; a disparaging term for a small person.
   • “Look, you little pygmy, I’m going to shove this dagger right through your chicken neck if you don’t tell us!”2008, Stephen Sparacio, Strawberries and Diamonds: An Ellis Island Mystery, Victoria, BC: Trafford, page 36
5. (derogatory, figuratively, offensive) An insignificant person, at least in some respect.
   • On the world stage Germany is an economic giant but a political pygmy, Britain in comparison a political giant but an economic pygmy.2016, Hugh Miall, Beyond Deterrence: Britain, Germany and the New European Security Debate

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