puny
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: punier
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: puniest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
pos: adj
examples: You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!
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, […]
gloss: (Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.
pos: adj
tags: Southern-US
gloss: Alternative spelling of puisne.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: Gadsbodkins, you puny Upſtart in the Law, to uſe me ſo, you Green Bag Carrier, you Murderer of unfortunate Cauſes, the Clerks Ink is ſcarce off of your fingers, you that newly come from Lamblacking the Judges ſhooes, and are not fit to wipe mine; […]
WHEN John firſt brought out the Bills, the Surprize of all the Family was unexpreſſible, at the prodigious Dimenſions of them; […] Fees to Judges, puny Judges, Clerks, Prothonotories, Philizers, Chirographers, Underclerks, Proclamators, Counſel, Witneſſes, Jury-men, Marſhals, Tipſtaffs, Cryers, Porters; […]
But if you think this Trade to baſe, / (Which ſeldom is the Dunce's Caſe) / Put on the Critick's Brow, and ſit / At Wills the puny Judge of Wit.
Many thought that he had altogether cut his own throat, and that he would have to take the first "puny" judgeship vacant.
gloss: Alternative spelling of puisne.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
gloss: Alternative spelling of puisne.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
Derived words: punily
puniness
punyness
Punycode
punyish
punyism
Translations: