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

To an outsider, this torrent of picayune detail about the financial markets would have been disorienting.

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

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

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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.

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

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