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paltry

adj
/ˈpɒltɹi/UK/ˈpɔltɹi/US/ˈpɑltɹi/CA/ˈpɔltɹi/

Etymology

From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Of uncertain ultimate origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *polto- (“cloth”), see also Proto-Slavic *poltьno (“linen”). Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly and pelting.

  1. derived from *polto-✻
  2. derived from *paltrô✻
  3. derived from *paltro✻
  4. derived from paltrig

Definitions

  1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.

    • This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.
    • She made some paltry excuse and left.
    • There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.

  2. Of little monetary worth.

    • Could someone hope to survive on such a paltry income?
    • Student grants these days are paltry, and many students have to take out loans.
    • As for those Samnites, and the men of Uz, That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece, Here have I purs'd their paltry silverlings. Fie, what a trouble 'tis to count this trash!

  3. Despicable

    Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.

    • a paltry coward
    • "An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick"

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for paltry. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA