n.
(pl. pygmies)
-
(Pygmy)
a member of certain peoples of very short stature in equatorial Africa or parts of SE Asia.
- chiefly derogatory a very small person or thing.
- a person who is deficient in a particular respect:
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an intellectual pygmy.
adj.
very small; dwarf.
Derivative
Etymology
ME (orig. denoting a mythological race of small people): via L. from Gk pugmaios ‘dwarf’, from pugmē ‘the length measured from elbow to knuckles’.
