Pygmy
or Pig·my
Anthropology.
a member of a small-statured people native to equatorial Africa.
a Negrito of southeastern Asia, or of the Andaman or Philippine islands.
pygmy, Disparaging and Offensive. a small or dwarfish person.
pygmy, anything very small of its kind.
pygmy, a person who is of small importance, or who has some quality, attribute, etc., in very small measure.
Classical Mythology. (in the Iliad) one of a race of dwarfs who fought battles with cranes, who preyed on them and destroyed their fields.
Often pygmy . of or relating to the Pygmies.
pygmy, of very small size, capacity, power, etc.
Origin of Pygmy
1Other words from Pygmy
- pygmoid, adjective
- pyg·my·ish, adjective
- pyg·my·ism, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for pygmy (1 of 2)
pigmy
/ (ˈpɪɡmɪ) /
an abnormally undersized person
something that is a very small example of its type
a person of little importance or significance
(modifier) of very small stature or size
Origin of pygmy
1Derived forms of pygmy
- pygmaean or pygmean (pɪɡˈmiːən), adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Pygmy (2 of 2)
Pigmy
/ (ˈpɪɡmɪ) /
a member of one of the dwarf peoples of Equatorial Africa, noted for their hunting and forest culture
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
Cultural definitions for Pygmy
A member of any ethnic group in which the average height of the adult male is less than four feet, eleven inches. There are Pygmy tribes in dense rain-forest areas of central Africa, southern India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The most widely studied Pygmies are the Mbuti of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, who pursue a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence (see nomadism and hunting and gathering societies), but have established complex interdependent relationships with their non-Pygmy farming neighbors.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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