puny
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpjuːni/
ipa: /ˈpjuni/
homophone: puisne
rhymes: -uːni
Forms: form: punies
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *pós
Proto-Indo-European *-ti
Proto-Indo-European *pós-ti
Proto-Italic *posti
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”).
Senses: examples: text: ·
text: ·
text: [T]hou chuff, thou puny, thou got in the peasestraw thou losel, thou chitterling, thou spawn of a rebel, thou dykedropt, […]
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 374:
synonyms: word: inferior
word: junior
word: puisne
word: underling
word: vassal
word: absolute zero
word: also-ran
word: chopped liver
word: cipher
word: crumb
word: Joe Nobody
word: little guy
word: minnow
word: nebbish
word: nobody
word: no one
word: nothing
word: nothingburger
word: nonentity
word: picayune
word: pip-squeak
word: pleb
word: peon
word: prole
word: puny
word: quidam
word: rinky-dink
word: shrimp
word: wankstain
word: zero
word: zilch
word: absolute zero
word: asswipe
word: badling
word: blatherskite
word: bugger
word: carrion
word: cipher
word: cockstain
word: crumb
word: custron
word: dandiprat
word: doink
word: fellow
word: fritlag
word: geek
word: good-for-naught
word: good-for-nothing
word: hoon
word: lidderon
word: losel
word: loser
word: louse
word: maggot
word: nonce
word: nowmun
word: ne'er-do-well
word: no-good
word: no-mark
word: nonentity
word: pelf
word: pig dog
word: pile of shit
word: pissant
word: punk
word: puny
word: quat
word: ramp
word: rinky-dink
word: roly-poly
word: scullion
word: slubberdegullion
word: sparrow-fart
word: streak of piss
word: toerag
word: truant
word: twerp
word: wankstain
word: waste of space
word: underperson
word: unworthy
antonyms: word: superior
word: worthless person
word: little guy
word: nonentity
word: peasant
word: peon
word: pleb
word: plebe
word: prole
word: shrimp
glosses: An inferior person; a subordinate; also, an insignificant person.
examples: text: [A] law that the eldeſt or firſt-borne child ſhall ſucceede and inherite all: where nothing is reſerved for punies, but obedience: […] Theſe vaine ſhadowes of our religion, which are ſeene in ſome of theſe examples, witnes the dignitie and divinity thereof.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, pages 333–334:
text: For a worthy man is wounded more deeply by his own Generalls neglect, then by his enemies ſword: […] Who had rather others ſhould make a ladder of his dead corps to ſcale a city by it, then a bridge of him whileſt alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by, and paſſe over him to preferment.
ref: 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Generall”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book IV, paragraph 5, page 328:
glosses: A younger person; a junior.
examples: text: Nay then I ſee thou'rt but a puny in the ſubtill Miſtery of a woman: […]
ref: 1607, attributed to Thomas Middleton or Cyril Tourneur, The Revengers Tragædie. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, […], →OCLC, Act I:
glosses: Alternative spelling of puisne.
A person who is not experienced; a beginner, a novice.
synonyms: word: newb
word: rookie
word: tenderfoot
word: abecedarian
word: alphabetarian
word: apprentice
word: amateur
word: beginner
word: bun
word: colt
word: first-timer
word: fledgling
word: fresh meat
word: freshman
word: greenhorn
word: greenie
word: greener
word: homo novus
word: inceptor
word: initiate
word: Johnny-come-lately
word: learner
word: neophyte
word: newbie
word: newb
word: newbro
word: new chum
word: newcomer
word: newling
word: noob
word: n00b
word: novice
word: novitiate
word: nozzer
word: nub
word: nubcake
word: puny
word: pup
word: probationer
word: probationist
word: probie
word: recruit
word: stranger
word: rookie
word: tenderfoot
word: trainee
word: tyro
word: younker
topics: law
glosses: Alternative spelling of puisne.
A puisne or junior judge.
examples: text: [T]he whole companye or most parte of the Studentꝭ [Studentis] of the same house mette toogether to beginne their Christmas, of wᶜʰ som̃e came to see sports […] others to make sporte wᵗʰall of this last sorte were they whome they call Fresh-menn Punies of the first yeare, who are by no meanes admitted to be agent's or behoulders of those sports, before themselues haue biñe patient perfourmers of them.
ref: c. 1610, “[The Election of the Prince]”, in Frederick S[amuel] Boas, editor, The Christmas Prince (The Malone Society Reprints; 47b), London: Printed for the Malone Society by Frederick Hall M.A. at the Oxford University Press, published 1923 (indicated as 1922), →OCLC, page 3, lines 9–12 and 14–18:
topics: law
synonyms: word: fresher
word: freshman
word: new bug
word: novi
word: shadow
english: [[w:Westminster School|Westminster School]]
translation: [[w:Westminster School|Westminster School]]
qualifier: university slang
glosses: A new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.