puny
/ˈpjuni/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.80 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
adj
(Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.
Example Sentences
- "You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!"
- "a puny attempt at an apology"
- "I had forgot my ſelfe, am I not King? […] Is not the Kings name twenty thouſand names? / Arme arme, my name a puny ſubiect ſtrikes, / At thy great glorie, […]"
- "And twentie of theſe punie lies Ile tell, / That men ſhall ſweare I haue diſcontinued ſchoole / About a twelue moneth: […]"
- "How ſhould puny ſcribblers be abaſhed and diſappointed, when they find him diſplaying a perfect theory of lexicographical excellence, yet at the ſame time candidly and modeſtly allowing that he "had not ſatisfied his own expectations.""
- "[W]e dart / O'er wave or field: yet breezes laugh to scorn // Our puny speed, […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pós Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *pósti Proto-Italic *posti Old Latin poste Latin post Proto-Indo-European *íh₂ Latin ea Latin posteā Vulgar Latin *postius Old French puis Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁tós Proto-Italic *gnātos Latin gnātus Latin nātus Old French né Old French puisné Middle French puisnébor. English puisne English puny PIE word *pós A respelling of puisne, from Anglo-Norman puisné (“later, more recent; junior; weakly”) [and other forms] and Middle French puisné (“born after (a specified person); younger, youngest; one who is born after (a specified person)”) (modern French puîné (“cadet (born after a sibling); a cadet (someone born after a sibling)”)), from puis (“after; since”) + né (“born”). Puis is derived from Old French pois (“after; since”), from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterward”), from Latin posteā (“afterwards; hereafter; thereafter; next, then”), from post (“after; since”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards”)) + ea (“these (things)”); and né from Latin nātus (“born”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpjuni/
- British English: /ˈpjuːni/