ban·tam

[ban-tuhm]
noun
1.
(often initial capital letter) a chicken of any of several varieties or breeds characterized by very small size.
2.
a small and feisty or quarrelsome person.
adjective
3.
diminutive; tiny: bantam editions of the classics.
00:10
Bantam is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

Origin:
1740–50; apparently after Bantam, through which such chickens may have been imported to Europe


3. miniature, small, petite, wee, pygmy, Lilliputian.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Ban·tam

[ban-tuhm; Dutch bahn-tahm]
noun
a village in W Java, in S Indonesia: first Dutch settlement in the East Indies.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
bantam (ˈbæntəm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  any of various very small breeds of domestic fowl
2.  a small but aggressive person
3.  boxing short for bantamweight
4.  (Canadian)
 a.  an age level of between 13 and 15 in amateur sport, esp ice hockey
 b.  (as modifier): bantam hockey
 
[C18: after Bantam village in Java, said to be the original home of this fowl]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bantam
1749, after Bantam, former Dutch residency in Java, from which the small domestic fowl were said to have been first imported. Extension to "small person" is 1837. As a light weight class in boxing, it is attested from 1884, probably from the birds, which are small but aggressive and bred for fighting.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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