pyknic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πυκνός (puknós, “thick”) +‎ -ic, as a calque of German pyknisch.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pĭkʹ-nĭk, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪknɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪknɪk
• Hyphenation: pyk‧nic
• Homophone: picnic

Adjective

pyknic (comparative more pyknic, superlative most pyknic)

1. short and stout; endomorphic
   • 2002 August 26, Geoffrey Benjamin, “On Being Tribal in the Malay World”, in Geoffrey Benjamin, Cynthia Chou, editors, Tribal Communities in the Malay World: Historical, Cultural and Social Perspectives, ISEAS Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, page 62:

     For example, in the demographic profile published by the Direktorat Bina Masyarakat Terasing (1990), the surveyed populations are each typologized according to a seemingly scientific code relating to such characteristics as: F Bodily characteristics (F₁ Generally athletic, tall, upstanding / F₂ Generally pyknic, slender, medium / F₃ Generally short, fat, small) […]

Noun

pyknic (plural pyknics)

1. (anthropology) A short, thickset person characterised by thick neck, large abdomen and relatively short limbs; an endomorph.

Related terms

• pyknon

Translations

short, thickset person

• Finnish: pyknikko (fi)
• Swedish: pykniker (sv) c