puny

Etymology

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”).

adj

1. Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
   You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!
2. (chiefly Southern US, south Midland US) (Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.
3. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of puisne
   1. Inferior in rank; specifically, of a judge: junior.
   2. Coming later in time; secondary, subsequent.
   3. Not experienced; novice.

noun

1. (archaic) An inferior person; a subordinate; also, an insignificant person.
   (inferior person): ·
   (insignificant person): ·
2. (obsolete)
   1. A younger person; a junior.
   2. Alternative spelling of puisne
      1. A person who is not experienced; a beginner, a novice.
      2. (law) A puisne or junior judge.
   3. (university slang, law) A new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.
      [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. 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, lines 9–12 and 14–18, page 3