puny

English

puny (plural punies)

(obsolete) A new pupil at a school etc.; a junior student.
(obsolete) A younger person.
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
  , II.12:
  a law that the eldest or first borne child shall succeed and inherit all: where nothing at all is reserved for Punies, but obedience […].
(obsolete) A beginner, a novice.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)
(archaic) An inferior person; a subordinate.

puny (comparative punier, superlative puniest)

Of inferior size, strength or significance; small, weak, ineffective.
- Shakespeare
  A puny subject strikes at thy great glory.
- Keble
  Breezes laugh to scorn our puny speed.

of inferior size

Catalan: feble (ca), escarransit (ca), desnerit
Chinese:
Mandarin: 微小 (zh) (wēixiǎo), 弱小 (zh) (ruòxiǎo)
Danish: sølle (da)
Dutch: nietig (nl), nietige (nl), klein (nl), zwak (nl), ijdel (nl)
Finnish: mitätön (fi), vähäpätöinen (fi)
French: chétif (fr), frêle (fr)
German: kümmerlich (de), schwächlich (de), klein (de), mickrig (de), kläglich (de)
Greek: μικρός (el) (mikrós), αδύνατος (el) (adýnatos), μικροκαμωμένος (el) (mikrokamoménos)
Irish: aimlithe
Italian: gracile (it), sparuto (it)

Japanese: ちっぽけな (ja) (chippoke na), 虚弱な (ja) (きょじゃくな, kyojaku na), 弱々しい (よわよわしい, yowayowashii)
Korean: 자그마하다 (ko) (jageumahada)
Luxembourgish: krappeg
Maori: pūkiki, kaurehe, rehe
Norwegian: ynkelig
Polish: wątły (pl)
Portuguese: franzino (pt), fraco (pt), pequeno (pt)
Russian: кро́хотный (ru) (króxotnyj), кро́шечный (ru) (króšečnyj)
Spanish: flojo (es), tirillas (es), gualtrapas
Swedish: ynkligt liten

From Old Occitan, from Latin pugnus, from Proto-Indo-European *puǵnos, *puḱnos, from *pewǵ-, *peuḱ- (“prick, punch”).

puny m (plural punys)

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