English → Latin
“puny” in Latin
pusillusvery little, very small, tinyexiguusstrict, exact; paltry, inadequate, small, scanty, slight, littleperparvusvery small, little, cheap; very unimportantperparvulusvery littleparvussmall; little; puny; cheap; petty; trifling; ignorable; unimportantminuōto make smaller, lessen, diminish, reduce, minimize; to attenuate, appease, suppress, repress, quell; to dismember, tearhomunciōlittle man; manikin, titman; homunculushomunculusdiminutive of homō (“man”); a little or weak man, homunculus; a dwarf
The English word puny itself goes back to Latin post, through *postius.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
puny
pusillus: exiguus: perparvus: perparvulus: minimus: minutus. ☞ The best writers do not say homo parvus or pusillus, but homo brevi corpore, or statura brevis, or statura humili (short). A puny little fellow, homulus, homuncio, or homunculus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for puny?
- The usual Latin words for “puny” are pusillus, exiguus, perparvus; also perparvulus, parvus, minuō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.