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Definition of picayune - 5 dictionary results

pic⋅a⋅yune

[pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh-]
–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


pic⋅a⋅yun⋅ish⋅ly, adverb
pic⋅a⋅yun⋅ish⋅ness, noun


1. trivial, insignificant. 2. narrow-minded.

Pic⋅a⋅yune

[pik-uh-yoon, pik-ee-]
–noun
a town in SE Mississippi. 10,361.
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.

Picayune

Pic`a*yune"\, n. [From the language of the Caribs.] A small coin of the value of six and a quarter cents. See Fippenny bit. [Local, U.S.]

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.
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