pygmy

Etymology

From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”).

noun

1. (often capitalized) A member of one of various Ancient Equatorial African tribal peoples, notable for their very short stature.
   Although Pygmies are relatively protected against gene flow from other populations, many Pygmy tribes show extensive gene replacement and few have remained relatively unaltered. 2018, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, The History and Geography of Human Genes
2. (Greek mythology) A member of a race of dwarfs.
   Ctesias lived in Persia for several years, as the personal physician of King Ataxerxes II, and would have had contact with travellers to India, and Indian visitors to Persia. He describes dog-headed humans, pygmy men who grow their beards so long that they can be used as clothes, and affirms that it never rains in India. 2015, Sam Miller, A Strange Kind of Paradise: India through Foreign Eyes
3. (figurative, derogatory, offensive) Any dwarfish person or thing.
   It was so high up that the people walking about in the street below looked like pygmies. 2015, Rosie Harris, Moving On: A family saga set in 1970’s Liverpool
4. (figurative, derogatory, offensive) An insignificant person, at least in some respect.
   On the world stage Germany is an economic giant but a political pygmy, Britain in comparison a political giant but an economic pygmy. 2016, Hugh Miall, Beyond Deterrence: Britain, Germany and the New European Security Debate

adj

1. Relating or belonging to the Pygmy people.
2. Like a pygmy; unusually short or small for its kind.
   Amongst foodgrains, as we travelled from the green South and East towards the dry North and West, the pygmy crop of rice gave way to the tall bajra and jowar. 1999, Ashok V. Desai, The Price of Onions, page 73