piteous

Etymology

From Middle English pitous, from Old French piteus, pitus.

adj

1. Provoking pity, compassion, or sympathy.
   1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 51, […] my strength, madam, is almost all gone away, and when I do any hard work, it’s quite a piteous sight to see me, for I am all in a tremble after it, just as if I had an ague […]
   […] you go out to beg, first smearing yourself with mud and filth to make yourselves as piteous as you can. 1931, Pearl S. Buck, chapter 11, in The Good Earth, New York: Modern Library, published 1944, pages 80–81
2. (obsolete) Showing devotion to God.
3. (obsolete) Showing compassion.
   Or have they soft piteous eyes beheld The weary wanderer thro’ the desert rove? Or does th’ afflicted man thy heavenly bosom move? 1783, William Blake, “An Imitation of Spenser”, in Poetical Sketches, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, published 1868, page 37
4. (obsolete) Of little importance or value.