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• Pygmy
  Pygmy
• pygmy
  pygmy

  noun

  an abnormally undersized person

Pygmy

American  

[pig-mee] / ˈpɪg mi /

Or Pigmy

noun

• Pygmies
  plural

1. Anthropology.

   1. a member of a small-statured people native to equatorial Africa.

   2. a Negrito of southeastern Asia, or of the Andaman or Philippine islands.

2. Disparaging and Offensive. pygmy, a small or dwarfish person.

3. pygmy, anything very small of its kind.

4. pygmy, a person who is of small importance, or who has some quality, attribute, etc., in very small measure.

5. Classical Mythology. (in theIliad ) one of a race of dwarfs who fought battles with cranes, who preyed on them and destroyed their fields.

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adjective

1. Often pygmy of or relating to the Pygmies.

2. pygmy, of very small size, capacity, power, etc.

pygmy ¹ British  

/ ˈpɪɡmɪ /

noun

1. an abnormally undersized person

2. something that is a very small example of its type

3. a person of little importance or significance

4. (modifier) of very small stature or size

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Pygmy ² British  

/ ˈpɪɡmɪ /

noun

1. a member of one of the dwarf peoples of Equatorial Africa, noted for their hunting and forest culture

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Pygmy Cultural  

1. A member of any ethnic group in which the average height of the adult male is less than four feet, eleven inches. There are Pygmy tribes in dense rain-forest areas of central Africa, southern India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The most widely studied Pygmies are the Mbuti of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, who pursue a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence (see nomadism and hunting and gathering societies), but have established complex interdependent relationships with their non-Pygmy farming neighbors.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pygmyism
  noun
• pygmaean
  adjective
• pygmoid
  adjective
• pygmyish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Pygmies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Pygmy

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pigmēis, plural of pigmē, from Latin Pygmaeus, from Greek pygmaîos “dwarfish” (adjective), Pygmy (noun), equivalent to pyg(mḗ) ) “distance from elbow to knuckles” + -aios adjective suffix

Explanation

A member of an ethnic group whose people tend to be very short or small is a pygmy. Anthropologists sometimes study pygmy groups. The term pygmy, while still used by many who study and write about world cultures and groups, is somewhat old-fashioned and can be offensive to members of these cultures. Anthropologists often refer to groups in which men are on average shorter than four feet eleven inches tall as pygmies, though for the most part these people prefer to be known by their ethnicity. Pygmy comes from the Greek word pugmaios, or "dwarf."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pygmy pygmy Pygmies

She has also conducted workshops and sold merchandise — from art prints to T-shirts to washi tape — at such spots as Leanna Lin’s Wonderland, Popkiller and Pygmy Hippo Shoppe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026

Pygmy hippos are much smaller than their river cousins and critically endangered, with fewer than 2,500 believed to remain in the wild.

From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2025

Pygmy hippos, otherwise known as dwarf hippos, are native to West Africa and experts believe there are only about 2,500 left in the wild worldwide.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2024

The Ryukyuan Pygmy Squid, Idiosepius kijimuna, is named after the short, red-haired forest fairies that are said to live in the banyan trees of Okinawa.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2023

“A Pygmy Puff, but I didn’t say where.”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Bogong moths are thought to help plants spread pollen and are also a key food source for the mountain pygmy possum, a critically endangered cave-dwelling marsupial.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

"I write fairly dark stuff, so it's actually lovely to go out in the morning and hand-feed the pygmy goats or the rabbits little bits of carrot and lettuce," James added.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Much of what researchers know about pygmy sperm whales has come from animals that wash ashore.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026

When you’re a consulting detective—even one who happens to be a pygmy shrew—trouble often has a way of finding you.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

We camped out under a sapodilla tree and listened to the pygmy owls with their old women’s voices.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

The record includes music by Chuck Berry, Beethoven, Aka Pygmies, and a Navajo ensemble, among others.

From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2019

A study which compared the different heights of Victorian youths, based on their class and their income - On British Pygmies and Giants - makes particularly shocking reading.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2016

With more genetic research into modern peoples, such as Tibetans in Asia, Pygmies in Africa, and Natives in the Americas, the significance of ancient and modern DNA studies is reverberating around the planet.

From Forbes ● Jun. 24, 2015

Eddie Izzard goes looking for his distant relatives among the Bakola Pygmies of Cameroon.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 20, 2013

Instead, this evidence suggested that Pygmies had once been widespread in the rain forest of Central Africa, while Khoisan peoples had been widespread in drier parts of subequatorial Africa.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond