picayune

[ pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh- ]
See synonyms for picayune on Thesaurus.com
adjectiveAlso 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
  1. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.

  2. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.

  1. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.

Origin of picayune

1
First recorded in 1780–90; from Provençal picaioun “small copper coin” (compare French picaillons ), derivative of an unattested onomatopoetic base pikk- “beat,” here referring to the coining of coppers

Other words for picayune

Other words from picayune

  • pic·a·yun·ish·ly, adverb
  • pic·a·yun·ish·ness, noun

Other definitions for Picayune (2 of 2)

Picayune
[ pik-uh-yoon, pik-ee- ]

noun
  1. a town in SE Mississippi.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for picayune

picayune

/ (ˌpɪkəˈjuːn) /


adjectiveAlso: picayunish US and Canadian informal
  1. of small value or importance

  2. mean; petty

noun
  1. the half real, an old Spanish-American coin

  2. US any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece

Origin of picayune

1
C19: from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin

Derived forms of picayune

  • picayunishly, adverb
  • picayunishness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012