picayune

¹

[pik-ee-yoon, pik-uh-]

adjective

Informal.

1. of little value or account; small; trifling.

   a picayune amount.

   Synonyms: trivial, paltry, nugatory, measly, insignificant, inconsequential

2. petty, carping, or prejudiced.

   I didn't want to seem picayune by criticizing.

   Synonyms: illiberal, small-minded, petty, narrow-minded, narrow

noun

1. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.

2. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.

3. Informal.,  an insignificant person or thing.

Picayune

²

[pik-uh-yoon, pik-ee-]

noun

1. a town in SE Mississippi.

picayune

/ ˌpɪkəˈjuːn /

adjective

1. of small value or importance

2. mean; petty

noun

1. the half real, an old Spanish-American coin

2. any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece

Other Word Forms

• picayunishly adverb
• picayunishness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of picayune¹

First recorded in 1780–90; from Provençal picaioun “small copper coin” (compare French picaillons ), derivative of an unattested onomatopoetic base pikk- “beat,” here referring to the coining of coppers

Word History and Origins

Origin of picayune¹

C19: from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin

Example Sentences

The next-largest categories, and we think the most concerning, encompass election administration and absentee voting – often challenging mechanical, even picayune matters.

Read more on Salon

When Jacobs tells a Kryptos message board he’s visiting the sculpture, the solvers have absurdly picayune requests.

Read more on Washington Post

Marshall's confirmation was a giant step forward in Supreme Court and U.S. history, but along the way he faced Senate Judiciary Committee questions that were race-baiting, arrogant, irrelevant and picayune.

Read more on Salon

The NFL’s picayune rule book is difficult enough to enforce without an inherently arbitrary judgment on what happens after a play.

Read more on Washington Post

But, however overwrought Anna’s sensibility sometimes is, Mrs. Lessing points such powerful significances therefrom that, in comparison, many other highly touted novels dealing with man’s acceptance — or defiance — of his fate seem picayune indeed.

Read more on New York Times