pygmy

«pygmy» in Mova's school dictionary: A very small kind of a species, much smaller than its… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (pygmy); noun (a pygmy, pygmies)

meaning for a pupil

1) (of animals and plants) A very small kind of a species, much smaller than its relatives, such as a pygmy hippo, pygmy goat or pygmy marmoset. tree →

2) (often offensive) An old word for members of some peoples in Central Africa who are short; today people prefer to use the names of the peoples themselves, such as the Mbuti or Baka. tree →

3) (informal, insulting) A person thought to be unimportant. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and zoo topics, pygmy is part of animal names: pygmy hippo, pygmy seahorse, pygmy shrew, pygmy possum. In geography and history, children learn to name peoples respectfully. Phrases: pygmy hippopotamus, pygmy goat.

examples

• The pygmy hippo lives in the forests of West Africa. tree →
• A pygmy seahorse is smaller than your fingernail. tree →
• The farm had three cheeky pygmy goats. tree →
• The pygmy marmoset is one of the smallest monkeys. tree →
• The pygmy possum sleeps through the cold winter in Australia. tree →
• Our guide used the name Baka for the forest people instead of an old label. tree →
• "I am your enemy," answered the valiant Pygmy, in his mightiest squeak. tree →

note

Plural pygmies. Also spelled pigmy. Safe to use for animals; for people, the word is often seen as insulting.

In the corpora

• African pygmy kingfishers are tiny kingfishers that mostly hunt insects in woods, not fish in rivers.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «pygmy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.