| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| Pygmy |
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| SYLLABICATION: | Pyg·my |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  p g m |
| VARIANT FORMS: | also Pig·my |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. Pyg·mies
1. Greek Mythology A member of a race of dwarfs. 2. also pygmy A member of any of various peoples, especially of equatorial Africa and parts of southeast Asia, having an average height less than 5 feet (127 centimeters). Not in scientific use. 3. pygmy a. An individual of unusually small size. b. An individual considered to be of little or no importance. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. also pygmy Of or relating to the Pygmies. Not in scientific use. 2. pygmy a. Unusually or atypically small. b. Unimportant; trivial. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English pigmie, from Latin Pygmae , the Pygmies, from Greek Pugmaioi, from pugm, cubit, fist. See peuk- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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