midget
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From midge (chiefly in the figurative sense of “small thing”, literally “small fly”) + -et (diminutive suffix), (from Old English myċġ (“mosquito”), from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-; cognate with Dutch mug (“mosquito”) and German Mücke (“midge, gnat”)).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
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midget (plural midgets)
- (sometimes derogatory) A very small thing; especially one which is conspicuously smaller than expected or by comparison. [from early 19th c.]
- Antonym: giant
- the midget pony
- 1949, Douglas Reed, Somewhere South of Suez: A Further Survey of the Grand Design of the Twentieth Century, page 48:
- By using a midget, skin-tight car of the kind made in Italy the Johannesburger might save himself much tribulation, but he likes large and glittering things, and would rather toil round his city in vain search of a place to put his supercharged, supergrinning Mammalac than use a baby car.
- (chiefly Canada, US, now rare) Alternative form of midge (“small fly”) [from early 19th c.]
- (derogatory, offensive) A short person. [from later 19th c.]
- 1930, Walter de la Mare, Poems for Children, London: Constable & Co., →OCLC, page xxix; republished in “[The Children’s Bookshop] Children and Childhood”, in Henry Seidel Canby, editor, The Saturday Review of Literature, volume VII, number 9, New York, N.Y.: Saturday Review Associates, 20 September 1930, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 151, column 2:
- They [children] realize their oughts no less sharply than their crosses; and this even though they are midgets in a land of giants who have forgotten much of their language and whose right is often founded solely on force majeure.
- 1994, Pat Proft, David Zucker, Robert LoCash, 44:20 from the start, in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (motion picture), spoken by Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen):
- Like a midget at a urinal, I was going to have to stay on my toes.
- (attributively, derogatory) Something for use by a small person; especially something designed or made for one.
Usage notes
[edit]- Generally considered derogatory, even when describing something other than a person.[1]
Hyponyms
[edit]- (a small person): manikin, homunculus, pygmy, lilliputian
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]person of small stature of adult height less than 4'10"
|
loosely: a midge — see midge
derogatory: any short person
|
attributively: that is the small version of something
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
[edit]- Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “midget”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Patrick Sawer (12 January 2022), “Midget Gems renamed after claims name is hateful towards people with dwarfism”, in The Telegraph, retrieved 14 October 2023
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- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒɪt
- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒɪt/2 syllables
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