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picayune

 - 4 dictionary results
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pic⋅a⋅yune

  [pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh-]
Use picayune in a Sentence
–adjective Also, pic⋅a⋅yun⋅ish. Informal.
1. of little value or account; small; trifling: a picayune amount.
2. petty, carping, or prejudiced: I didn't want to seem picayune by criticizing.
–noun
3. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.
4. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.
5. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.
Origin:
1780–90; < Pr picaioun small copper coin (cf. F picaillons), deriv. of an onomatopoetic base *pikk- beat, here referring to the coining of coppers

Related forms:
pic⋅a⋅yun⋅ish⋅ly, adverb
pic⋅a⋅yun⋅ish⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. trivial, insignificant. 2. narrow-minded.
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Pic⋅a⋅yune

  [pik-uh-yoon, pik-ee-]
–noun
a town in SE Mississippi. 10,361.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To picayune
pic·a·yune   (pĭk'ə-yōōn')   
adj.  

  1. Of little value or importance; paltry. See Synonyms at trivial.

  2. Petty; mean.

n.  

  1. A Spanish-American half-real piece formerly used in parts of the southern United States.

  2. A five-cent piece.

  3. Something of very little value; a trifle: not worth a picayune.


[Louisiana French picaillon, small coin, from French, from Provençal picaioun, from picaio, money, perhaps from Old Provençal piquar, to jingle, clink, from Vulgar Latin *piccāre, to pierce; see pique.]
pic'a·yun'ish adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

picayune 
1804, "coin of small value," probably from Louisiana Fr. picaillon "coin worth 5 cents," earlier the Fr. name of an old copper coin of Savoy (1750), from Prov. picaioun "small copper coin," from picaio "money," of uncertain origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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