pygmy
/ˈpɪɡmi/
pygmy noun: a member of various legendary races of dwarfs, or supernatural peoples of diminutive stature.
Noun
pygmy (plural pygmies)
- 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
- Being desired by her to bring a present of gold, with which that region abounded, he stole, while at play with the king's son, the golden ball with which he used to divert himself, and brought it to his mother in great haste; and when he reached the door of his father's house, but not unpursued...1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 405
- 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
- Although Pygmies are relatively protected against gene flow from other populations, many Pygmy tribes show extensive gene replacement and few have remained relatively unaltered.2018, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, The History and Geography of Human Genes
- 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
- In Laos, half a world away, at the bottom of the heap are the Kha, a loose local term for a number of tribes of Indonesian stock who were the early inhabitants of the region, perhaps preceded by Astraloids, Melanesoids, and the Asian Pygmies called Negrites.1959, Oden Meeker, The Little World of Laos, New York: Charles Scrinber's Sons, page 104
- 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
- It was so high up that the people walking about in the street below looked like pygmies.2015, Rosie Harris, Moving On: A family saga set in 1970’s Liverpool
- 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
Adjective
pygmy (comparative more pygmy, superlative most pygmy)
- Relating or belonging to the Pygmy people.
- Unusually short or small for its kind, especially in the names of animals and plants.
- Amongst foodgrains, as we travelled from the green South and East towards the dry North and West, the pygmy crop of rice gave way to the tall bajra and jowar.1999, Ashok V. Desai, The Price of Onions, page 73
pygmy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
pygmy in Hindi
- any dwarfish person
- वामन vāman, बालिश्त bāliśt
pygmy in Tamil
- குறை உயரம், குள்ளம்
pygmy in Urdu
- بالشتیا, پودنا
pygmy in Bengali
- যেকোনো খর্বাকৃতি ব্যক্তি, বস্তু, একজন তুচ্ছ, গুরুত্বহীন ব্যক্তি, পিগমির মতো
More languagesFewer languages
- pygmy in Malayalam
- കുള്ളൻ, മുണ്ടൻ, വാമനൻ
- pygmy in Kannada
- ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾದ ಸಣ್ಣ ಆಕಾರದ ಜನಾಂಗ, ಕುಳ್ಳ, ಕುಬ್ಜ, ಗಿಡ್ಡ
- pygmy in Tagalog
- himandak
Examples of pygmy in a sentence
- She's traipsed off to Borneo to see the lesser spotted pygmy owl, or something like that.
- First we get pygmy hippos blown up, then we come across a dwarf skeleton.
- Cupwings, also known as pygmy wren‐babblers, are very small songbirds found in Southeast Asia.
Synonyms of pygmy
Antonyms
Forms of pygmy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pygmies |
| alternative form (archaic) | pigmy |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more pygmy |
| superlative | most pygmy |
Origin of pygmy
From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a legendary race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”). In Ancient Greek, first mentioned by Homer; only applied to actual human races in the 19th century.
Words formed from pygmy
- African pygmy goat
- African pygmy goose
- American pygmy goat
- cotton pygmy goose
- Eurasian pygmy owl
- green pygmy goose
- micropygmy
- pygmean
- pygmy antwren
- pygmy auk
- pygmy babbler
- pygmy backswimmer
- pygmy batis
- pygmy blue whale
- pygmy chimpanzee
- pygmy cormorant
- pygmy cuckooshrike
- pygmy cupwing
- pygmydom
- pygmy falcon
- pygmy flowerpecker
- pygmy flycatcher
- pygmy giant panda
- pygmy hanging-parrot
- pygmy heleia
- pygmy hippo
- pygmy hippopotamus
- pygmy hog
- pygmyhood
- pygmyish
- pygmyism
- pygmy killer whale
- pygmy kingfisher
- pygmylike
- pygmy loach
- pygmy longbill
- pygmy lorikeet
- pygmy marmoset
- pygmy nightjar
- pygmy nuthatch
- pygmy owl
- pygmy palm swift
- pygmy parrot
- pygmy percher
- pygmy pipes
- pygmy placed on the shoulders of giants
- pygmy possum
- pygmy rabbit
- pygmy right whale
- pygmy sperm whale
- pygmy squid
- pygmy sunbird
- pygmy swift
- pygmy tit
- pygmy tyrant
- pygmy woodpecker
- pygmy wren-babbler
- snake and pygmy pie
- western pygmy blue
Phrases with pygmy
- pygmy hogs
- pygmy owls
- pygmy hippos
- pygmy falcons
- pygmy possums
- pygmy tyrants
- American Pygmy
- pygmy perchers
- pygmy marmosets
- pygmy cormorants
- green pygmy geese
- pygmy blue whales
15 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about pygmy
- What does pygmy mean?
- Pygmy means a member of various legendary races of dwarfs, or supernatural peoples of diminutive stature.
- What is pygmy in Hindi?
- Pygmy in Hindi is वामन (vāman), बालिश्त (bāliśt). See Pygmy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pygmy?
- Pygmy can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce pygmy?
- Pygmy is pronounced /ˈpɪɡmi/.
- What is the plural of pygmy?
- The plural of pygmy is pygmies.
Words near pygmy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pygmy (page history and authors); pygmy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pygmy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pygmy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pygmy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pygmy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pygmy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pygmy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pygmy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.