pusillus
Meaning
- adjectivevery little, very small, tiny
- adjectivepuny, petty, insignificant
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
breve tempus, paulumperparvus, humilisChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Parvus · Minutus · Exiguus · Pusillus
Parvus and minutus denote littleness, quite indifferently, and in a purely mathematical sense, without any accessory notion; parvus (παῦρος) a natural and intrinsic littleness, in opp. to magnus, like μικρός; minutus (μινύθω) an artificial and fabricated littleness; whereas exiguus and pusillus with a contemptuous accessory notion; exiguus from (egere) in a pitiable sense, as paltry and insignificant, in opp. to amplus. Planc. ap. Cic. Fam. x. 24; or in opp. to grandis, Quintil. xi. 3, 15; but pusillus (ψιλός?) in a ludicrous sense, as petty, nearly in opp. to ingens, like τυτθός. (v. 28.)
Declension
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | pusillus pusillulus | pusilla pusillula | pusillum pusillulum |
| genitive | pusillī pusillulī | pusillae pusillulae | pusillī pusillulī |
| dative | pusillō pusillulō | pusillae pusillulae | pusillō pusillulō |
| accusative | pusillum pusillulum | pusillam pusillulam | pusillum pusillulum |
| ablative | pusillō pusillulō | pusillā pusillulā | pusillō pusillulō |
| vocative | pusille pusillule | pusilla pusillula | pusillum pusillulum |
| form | masculine | feminine | neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | pusillī pusillulī | pusillae pusillulae | pusilla pusillula |
| genitive | pusillōrum pusillulōrum | pusillārum pusillulārum | pusillōrum pusillulōrum |
| dative | pusillīs pusillulīs | pusillīs pusillulīs | pusillīs pusillulīs |
| accusative | pusillōs pusillulōs | pusillās pusillulās | pusilla pusillula |
| ablative | pusillīs pusillulīs | pusillīs pusillulīs | pusillīs pusillulīs |
| vocative | pusillī pusillulī | pusillae pusillulae | pusilla pusillula |
pueri, Cato, R. R. 157, 10: testis, Cic. de Or. 2, 60, 145; cf. Hor. S. 1, 5, 69: terra homines nunc educat pusillos, Juv. 15, 70: mus, Plaut. Truc. 4, 4, 15: villula valde pusilla, Cic. Att. 12, 27, 1: folia (herbae), Plin. 25, 13, 103, § 162: epistula, Cic. Att. 6, 1, 23: pusilli et contempti libelli, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 75, § 185: cui satis una Farris libra foret, gracili sic tamque pusillo, Hor. S. 1, 5, 69: vox, small, thin, weak, Quint. 11, 3, 32: habuimus in Cumano quasi pusillam Romam, Cic. Att. 5, 2, 2.—Comp.: maritus quovis puero pusillior, App. M. 5, p. 163, 5: pusillo animo, Vulg. Col. 3, 21.— Absol.: pŭsillum, i, n., a very little, a trifle: nactus pusillum laxamenti, Treb. ap. Cic. Fam. 12, 16, 3: aphaca pusillo altior lenticula est, a trifle taller, Plin. 27, 5, 21, § 38: pusillum a vero discedere, a little, Quint. 8, 6, 28; cf. Cato, R. R. 90: post pusillum, after a little, Vulg. Judith, 13, 11; id. Luc. 22, 58.—animus, a petty spirit, Cic. Fam. 2, 17, 7; Sen. Ira, 3, 43, 4: Siculus ille capitalis, creber, acutus, brevis, paene pusillus Thucydides, id. Q. Fr. 2, 11 (13), 4; Mart. 3, 62, 8: pusilli animi, little courage, diffidence, Hor. S. 1, 4, 17: ingenium, Mart. 9, 51, 1: causa, trifling, Ov. R. Am. 730: res (opp. grandes), Quint. 11, 3, 151: quod dixi tamen, hoc leve et pusillum est, Mart. 4, 43, 9: causidicus, Juv. 10, 121.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
Proto-Italic *put-sle-los → *pussillos followed by degemination via the so-called "mamilla rule", from Proto-Indo-European *put-lo- (“son”), historically standing in relation to pullus (“young of an animal”) as a diminutive. Latin cognates include pusillus, putillus (“tiny”), pūsus (“boy”), possibly Vulgar Latin *pūtta (“whore”). Further cognate to Faliscan putellio (“little son”, nom.sg.), Oscan puklum (acc.sg.), Paelignian puclois (dat.pl.), Sanskrit पुत्र (putrá, “son, child”), Avestan 𐬞𐬎𐬚𐬭𐬀 (puθra, “child, son”), Lithuanian putýtis (“little bird”), Latvian putns (“bird”), Old Church Slavonic пътица (pŭtica, “bird”). For the correspondence pullus :: pusillus compare paullus :: pauxillus, vēlum :: vēxillum. Compare pisinnus, pitinnus; see also putus, a ghost word. A connection of the stem *put- with puer is difficult to establish.
- Italianpusillo
In English words that came into English from pusillus
- pusillanimouspusillanimis