From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpygmypyg‧my1, pigmy /ˈpɪɡmi/ noun (plural pygmies, pigmies) [countable] 1 (also Pygmy)SASA someone who belongs to a race of very small people, especially one of the tribes of central Africa2 someone who is not as good, intelligent, strong etc as other people in the same group – used to show disapproval a literary pygmy
Examples from the Corpus
pygmy• This section was a stunted pygmy of the city, but all hers to handle and manipulate.• She lost concentration, and the pygmy vanished.pygmypygmy2 adjective [only before noun] used to describe a type of animal or plant that is much smaller than other similar types a pygmy elephantExamples from the Corpus
pygmy• Some of the most satisfactory aquarium specimens are the pygmy angelfishes.• These vary in size from the great white pelican and goliath heron to the diminutive malachite and pygmy kingfishers.• They coaxed everything from pygmy mice to snakes to cheetahs into running on a treadmill while wearing an oxygen mask.• In fact, Galvin sees protecting the pygmy owl and its habitat as a boon to the economy and wildlife alike.• Still, the press jumped on the pygmy owl angle, splashing headlines about the controversy across the top of both dailies.• In the meantime, however, Amphi is still stuck with the pygmy owl problem.• Environmentalists feel saving the pygmy owl requires re-establishing flourishing desert riparian areas.• This could result in the plan being modified, so as not to adversely affect the pygmy owl.Origin pygmy (1300-1400) Latin pygmaeus “very small in height”, from Greek, from pygme “fist (as a unit of length)” 