Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pissant

/ˈpɪsænt/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.66 in modern English

Syllables
pis-sant
IPA
/ˈpɪsænt/
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An ant.

noun

An insignificant person.

Derogatory; Slang

noun

A person who adheres strictly to a rule or policy despite current circumstances.

Derogatory; Slang

noun

A person seemingly incapable of focusing on anything but the trivial, especially in the sense of trivial or irrelevant criticism.

Derogatory; Slang

Example Sentences

Etymology

From piss + ant, because of the urine-like smell of anthills. Compare pismire.

Usage

Inflected Forms

pissants (plural) piss-ant (alternative) more pissant (comparative) most pissant (superlative)

Synonyms

Questions

How do you pronounce pissant?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɪsænt/.
What does pissant mean?
An ant.
Where does pissant come from?
From piss + ant, because of the urine-like smell of anthills. Compare pismire.

How to pronounce pissant

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “pissant”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpɪsænt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “pissant”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “pissant” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.