picayune
Use Picayune in a sentence
iˈyun, ˌpɪk 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.
00:10
Picayune
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| 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:
1780–90; < Provençal picaioun small copper coin (compare French picaillons), derivative of an onomatopoetic base *pikk- beat, here referring to the coining of coppers
1780–90; < Provençal picaioun small copper coin (compare French picaillons), derivative 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.
1. trivial, insignificant. 2. narrow-minded.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To picayune
Collins
World English Dictionary
picayune (ˌpɪkəˈjuːn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | of small value or importance |
| 2. | mean; petty |
| —n | |
| 3. | the half real, an old Spanish-American coin |
| 4. | (US) any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece |
| [C19: from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin] | |
| pica'yunishly | |
| —adv | |
| pica'yunishness | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
Example sentences
The holiday season is that special time of the year when my being picayune brings added delight to my heart.
Good humored writing is far too rare a commodity for anyone to be picayune about it.
But the picayune has a habit of occasionally discovering things that are not so.
See what else you can find to be picayune about in my comment.
Nearby Words
Synonyms
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