picayune
nounEtymology
The noun is borrowed from southern French picaillon, pécaillon, picayon (“type of small foreign coin; (informal, especially in the plural) cash, money”), and from its etymon Occitan picalhon, picaioun (“cheaply made Savoyan-Piedmontese coin that was rapidly demonetized; (by extension) cash, money”), probably from Occitan piquar (“to ring (bells); to knock, strike”) (referring to the clinking of coins in a pocket), originally imitative. The adjective is derived from the noun.
Definitions
A small coin of the value of six-and-a-quarter cents
A small coin of the value of six-and-a-quarter cents; a Spanish coin with a value of half a real; a fippenny bit.
A coin worth five cents (a nickel) or some other low value.
A person regarded as unworthy of respect or useless
A person regarded as unworthy of respect or useless; also, something of very little value; a trifle.
›+ 3 more definitionsshow fewer
An argument, fact, or other issue raised (often intentionally) that distracts from a…
An argument, fact, or other issue raised (often intentionally) that distracts from a larger issue or fails to make any difference.
Of little consequence
Of little consequence; small and of little importance; petty, trivial.
- It's also representative of a psychological syndrome that I notice has gotten steadily worse as the Cruise wears on, a mental list of dissatisfactions and grievances that started picayune but has quickly become nearly despair-grade.
Childishly spiteful
Childishly spiteful; tending to go on about unimportant things; small-minded.
The neighborhood
Derived
picayuneish, picayunish, picayunishness, picayunity, picayunely, picayuneness
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for picayune. 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